I should have known this morning when my power steering was out...again! It wasn't the power steering at all. It was my flat front tire that I drove, oh, shall we say, miles and miles and miles on all day long? That one.
And then it happened. I pulled up at Smart and Final to stock up on booze (for a party, hold the judgement) and this lady gave me the dirtiest Orange County look I'd seen since, umm, yesterday. I rolled down my window to give her one back. Okay, I didn't. I rolled down my window to ask what her problem was and she said, "Your tire has like THIS MUCH air in it!"
THIS MUCH meant not so much. Emphasis on the lower case.
I drove to Chevron and put air in it as two men watched me. Ahh, gentlemen. You must not have sisters or internal organs...that beat. And then I started madly looking for some auto garage that would still be open at 7:30 at night.
There aren't many in Orange County in case you were wondering.
I drove halfway to Walmart and then realized it was closed and then called around for the nearest Pep Boys and it was one street over which would have been so easy if I was not a complete moron with directions. Translation: I ended up back on the freeway headed south when I should have gone north and wasted more of the precious air in my flattening tire.
Grrr.
I learned something this evening. It takes a village to raise me. Well, it takes a village for me to get a flat tire unflattened, fixed, normalized, drive worthy.
Tonight's Village
Walmart Lady That Hung Up On Me
She meant well, really she did. I called to see if their service department was open and she didn't tell me just transferred me. I called back one more time and asked in my "firm voice". She apologized and said they closed 10 minutes ago.
Miss Chloe
I was supposed to be at Taco Tuesday tonight but have an assistant who does amazing play by play via text. Miss Chloe stayed at the event therefore allowing me to deal with the tire. I love text. I hear the event was "omg awesome".
Pep Boys
My heroes. They took the car. They found her in urgent need of repair. They fixed her. I'm in auto store love with this place.
Mimi's Cafe
I had to kill time while the car was being fixed and had three choices: Mimi's Cafe, Jack in the Box or stop by the liquor store which happens to be the one that guy owns that held me captive that one night. Mimi's it is. The host called me Miss. I loved him. My server called me ma'am. Seven times. I don't love him. I don't love him at all. Not even a little. And he has the worst hair anyone in the world has ever had, well except for that one guy that used to work at WFS that got the plugs and needed the desk fan cause he sweat so much. Still, I don't love him at all.
People, Twitter People
You. You followed along on my adventure. You commented. You made snarky remarks and you laughed and you told me other places nearby to eat dinner. And what that really means is that you, dear friends, cared. Whether you live close or far, you cared and that is just huge in the hugest way something can be huge.
The Boy
I didn't need to text him a big, "Help!" I was okay. I had someone tell me the tire was flat. I had someone to fix it. I had somewhere to go to eat dinner. I had people to chat with while I waited. And when I came home he texted after reading the whole adventure, "Oh, baby. Just seeing car drama. Wish I could fix. Sending kisses to my independent super girl."
And that's what I needed as soon as I got home. I needed, I wanted to be loved on.
You, you are my community. All of you. And sometimes I know you and sometimes you are strangers and sometimes I adore you and sometimes I think you are giving me dirty looks when really, really you are helping me.
It took a village to raise me tonight. Huh? This independent super girl can do much on her own but loves having you all along for the journey.
Putting my cape away for the night,
Cole
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