Things Happen - Things Go Wrong

Weird stuff seems to happen when we’re pushed for time.
Monday, August 18, I got up on the run. Left the house at 7:45 and didn’t return until 3:30. Well, except to trade vehicles, which I’ll go into in a few minutes.
Bear with me.
I arrived at Nissan’s dealership around 8:15. Traffic had backed up for a couple of miles, but miraculously moved quickly. By 9:30, my car’s oil and filter was changed and tires rotated. I had a coupon and August, 18 was the expiration date. I didn’t want to miss the great discount.
So far so good.
After a twenty mile drive toward home to have the car inspected, I was almost done with the day. The wait for the inspection was about fifteen minutes, but in the heat felt longer. Finally the attendant completed the inspection and once again I’m back on the road.
Great!
Time to return home, drive the truck in for the same work as the car, then tags could be purchased and I’d be finished with that boring chore.
Oops! I’d forgotten my laptop battery needed replacing, and had brought it with me. I had called a dealer a few days prior to order, but the employee said I should come in because he couldn’t get their computer system to work. Really? Okay. I really didn’t have the time, but I could do that.
So…I turned around and drove fifteen miles to the dealer to order the much needed battery. Once there, I was told the order would not be shipped until around the 28^th of the month. Not wanting to wait that long, I remembered another outlet that was quick and usually had all batteries in stock.
My computer is four years old, so they didn’t have the battery in stock. The lady who waited on me was extremely helpful and had the battery on order in a matter of minutes. The battery would arrive UPS next day air with only a $2.00 shipping fee. I found that amazing and completely delighted to say the least.
The day’s events began to take on a positive note. Yay!
Now back to the house to drop off the car and pick up the truck for oil change, tire rotation and inspection.
Things happen. Things go wrong. Such is life and its many lessons. So goes my lesson in jumping the gun.
After an attendant’s promise to get me out of the dealership within an hour, an hour and forty-five minutes later, the truck’s oil change and tire rotation was complete.
My nerves were beginning to wear thin. It was now twelve-thirty. I still had  a thirty minute drive for the truck’s inspection, visit Mom at the nursing home for a couple of hours, go by the grocery and prepare dinner and go to a funeral home for visitaion.
Such is life.
Two miles from the inspection center, I heard this loud hummmmm. I glanced over at the  truck beside me and thought the sound came from it. After braking a few times in the traffic, I realized the sound came from my truck. By the time I’d arrived at the inspection center, the sound had stopped. Strange, I thought. Thankfully there was only one car in front of me, so the inspection was a speedy one. Relief.
I shot through the grocery store in record time. That chore done, I was on the way home. The day was harried, but now I could relax knowing the rest of the day was manageable.
Wrong.

Smoke

I pulled into the driveway and opened the truck door. This putrid smell hit me right in the face. I popped the hood to see if during the oil change, there was oil that could have spilled onto something and caused the horrible, strong, rubber-burning scent. My first thought of blaming someone else. I didn’t have time to check under the hood. White smoke poured from under the truck, near the left rear tire. I jumped as though I’d been shot. My first thought was the truck was going to catch fire.
My heart pounded.
The car was a few feet away, then the house. My imagination worked overtime. In my mind’s eye, I saw a huge explosion, taking everything including the house.
The smoke dissipated. Whew.
But no. The smoke started back up with a vengeance.
After having had work done on a number of vehicles before, we’ve had strange items left under the hood. So, there I go again, thinking something could have been left under the car that caused the problem. In a matter of five minutes the smoke finally ended.
My first thought was something had indeed been handled wrong at the dealership. So, with the day’s previous events, I called hubby and we decided not to chance a long drive back to the dealer, but to take the truck to a shop a mile from the house.
With a funeral to attend at 1:00 the next day, I didn’t have time for this nonsense. But, my neighbor was gracious enough to follow me to the shop and bring me back home.
Who knew? The calipers had stuck and caused the brakes to lock up. Both back rear brakes needed replacement. New calipers, rotors, pads and few hundred dollars later, the truck was now back to normal and I wasn’t afraid to drive it again.

I’m not so sure I’m back to normal though. My thought to blame someone else for nothing that had to do with the work they’d done, left a stain on my heart.
I will examine all measures before jumping the gun from now on.
I’m sure these incidents may, at some point, find their way into a book someday. My mind works overtime on plots also.