When it rains it pours.
So you know how my parents are in Florida, right? Amongst many chores, one thing I have to do every so often is drive my mom's car. Just to keep it...healthy, I guess. It's a 17 year old Honda Civic and in great shape - it only has 120,000 miles on it. I know cars that are 10 years younger and have twice the miles. (I know some people like that too, HIYOOOOO!)
So I was driving it to run my errands today. For reference, I live in Reston, VA. It's a suburb that's about 30 minutes west of Washington DC and maybe 20 minutes outside of Arlington, VA. I'm telling you these geographic tidbits because they'll come in handy as I tell you this story.
I went to the post office, then drove about 30 minutes to the 2nd closest Wal-Mart to me (because the closest one sucks and I refuse to go there on principal) and then drove to a SUPERTARGET! (yes, I have to capitalize it and punctuate it at such. It's SUPER!) both of which are in Leesburg, VA.
So I do my shopping at Wal-Mart - I only went to get one thing - those individual drink-mix things, you know the ones you put into a water bottle? Wal-Mart brand's Cherry Limeade flavor is AMAZING. I try to avoid those things mostly because they do have aspartame, but...it tastes like a melted popsicle. And when you have that craving for candy or something sweet, they really do help. So I got those.
Then I went to the SUPERTARGET! that is down the road from the Wal-Mart. I got a few things and then went back to my car.
And then it wouldn't start. I tried and tried and...nothing. Oh also did I mention that it was cold and drizzling out?
A really nice man came along and tried to help; he looked under the hood and had me try a bunch of different tricks to get it to start. It wouldn't.
He left and I reluctantly picked up my phone to call a tow truck; at least we have AAA. Then I notice my phone. The battery is so low it's got that lovely "Danger Red" shade on. Basically I had time to make maybe one and a half calls. Of course.
I have a friend that lives about 1 minute down the road from me so I call her first. I figured she has a cell phone that I could use since I knew mine will inevitably go dead before the end of this insane evening. She rushed to my rescue, thankfully.
While she was on her way I called AAA. I called at 7pm. I told them I was in Leesburg and needed a tow back to Reston. The woman I spoke with told me a truck would be there within an hour. In tow-truck time, I know that means anywhere from 2-4 hours, so I asked them to call me when the driver was 5 minutes away. In the mean time I went back to my friend's house and had dinner, so that part was nice. Even though the whole situation sucked, at least I had a good friend close by.
At 8pm the driver of the tow truck calls me and tells me he's in the Target parking lot by my car. Imagine that, a towing company (much less going through AAA) comes on time!?
My friend and I go back over to the lot and drive up to my car. There is no tow truck. Not by my car, and nowhere in the lot at all. So I call the driver back (on my friend's phone because mine had died about 30 minutes prior) and tell him what we're seeing, and it isn't him.
He says to me: "...you're in Arlington, right?"
Ha, I hope anyone from the DC area that reads this is feeling my pain. For those of you outside the DC Metro area, Arlington is about 50 minutes away from Leesburg. ALMOST AN HOUR AWAY. And, like my friend said, how in the hell do you get the words "Leesburg" and "Arlington" confused?!
Anyway, after I imploded from rage and frustration, I called AAA back and they said they had someone in the area (the correct area) that could be there in 20 minutes.
Luckily everyone held up their end of the bargain this time. But then once the tow truck came my friend got a call from her husband - they have 15 month old twin boys who are just now walking and one of them fell on his face right into the cup he was holding. They thought he had lost a tooth and there was blood and...you get the idea. It was panic-central in Leesburg, VA tonight.
The tow-truck guy got me and my vehicle home safely and relatively cheaply. Surprisingly so, actually. And my friend's son is fine - tooth intact, just a bit of a fat lip.
*SIGH* What a night.
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