Broken Cars

Have you ever been driving a car when the engine seizes up?  I haven't, but my husband and son both have.  I happen to know it's a pretty bad situation as cars go.  The car stops, and it doesn't start up again.  Not until you dump every last cent you have into it, and then some.

After you seize up an engine, it feels like you are attuned to every tiny buzz, scrape, or whine that your car engine makes.  Your heart leaps up into your throat.  Is it happening again?  Maybe it isn't really fixed after all.  And all the money is gone.

As time and the car roll along for a bit, you relax.  You hear the little noises under the hood, and you're less likely to panic.  It's probably nothing major...probably nothing at all.  And of course you're right.  Usually it's nothing.

The more time that goes by, the more distant the memory of the seizing engine.  The odds of it happening again seem remote.  You find yourself barely thinking of it, and unless something major goes wrong, the memory continues to fade.

Life is like that sometimes.  The longer we go between stressful situations, the more likely we are to begin to believe they will never crop up again.  We're basically shocked when the car breaks down again.  It just doesn't seem right to have to keep fixing the same old stuff.  But it does, and we do.

And that's about it.  No great words of wisdom here...just the simple acknowledgement that this is the way of our lives, from the time we become responsible for ourselves until the grave.  In a way it's kind of beautiful.  I'm not saying it's particularly nice to drain your savings account to keep your car on the road.  But fixing things I mean.  Finding out what's wrong and figuring out what to do to make it work.  Catching a ride with a friend while your car is in the shop.  Walking to town instead.