Mysterious ways

I dropped my mom and Rachel off at the mall on Monday night. I headed to Target to return something and then was going to pick them back up and meet the guys for our annual Tolley family bowling night. I was in the store about five minutes, came back out and the Jeep wouldn't start. And when I say wouldn't start, I mean it did nothing.

As luck would have it, my cell phone battery was dead. So I gathered up a bunch of nickels from the car that I had "won" from one of Rachel's ingenious games we played to kill time on the way back to Illinois and went in search of a pay phone. (With the amount of nickels I had, I could have called about everyone I know.)

Wouldn't you know that in this technologically-advanced day and age, Target got rid of their pay phone. They let me use one of the phones in the store but it was only for local calls. The only cell phone number I had memorized was my dad's and he didn't bring it with him.

Cursing my stupidity, I went back out to the car and found a sliver of juice left in my cell. I sent a message saying something along the lines of, "Someone please come to Target. Jeep won't start. Cell is dead." to all the bowlers. Then I waited. It was cold.

About ten minutes later I had the brilliant idea to go into Target to buy a car charger for my phone. The car wouldn't start but the battery was fine. (This was the first of several purchases they saw from this whole escapade as we went in later to buy jumper cables, which didn't do a bit of good.)

When I came out of the store with my purchase, my dad and Chad were pulling up...and someone had called mom and Rachel at the mall, who were starting to wonder where on earth I was. It's not like Galesburg is a tough place to navigate.

To sum up the ensuing events, the Jeep was towed and needed a new starter and a new battery. Dad suggested we get it towed to a place that could get it fixed first thing in the morning (and placed a call to the owner when they opened to express the urgency--thanks, Dad!). We were only about five hours late heading back to DC and got home at 4:30 a.m. this morning instead of our planned midnight arrival. All in all, not so bad.

While this whole experience was an inconvenience and definitely threw a wrench into our plans, I was constantly reminding myself that this was by no means a worst-case scenario. The Lord works in mysterious ways, I guess, because this did not happen:

• When three girls and a dog were heading back to Illinois in the middle of the night with a bunch of Christmas presents and a hitch full of luggage
• When it was 18 below zero (last week) and icy
  
• When we were returning to DC through one of several areas with no cell reception, let alone auto shops or tow trucks
• When we absolutely, positively needed to be somewhere else by a certain time
  

So, mental note: If you're going to get stranded, be thankful if you're not in the middle of West Virginia at 2 a.m. with a dog and a car full of stuff. Any other situation should be a reminder that it really could have been worse.

Getting stuck in the Target parking lot--one of my favorite places on the planet--is just an extra bonus. And having the car fixed in Galesburg versus DC saved us a few hundred bucks on parts and labor, too.

Sometimes it really is all a matter of perspective.