And I didn't even get kissed.....

Monday, being what it is.....Monday....can hold many surprises for us. I drove to work without thinking too much about anything except that I didn't get much sleep the night before. Once in a while that happens to me and it really makes me sympathize with people who have trouble sleeping every night.

I don't think I'd been at work for more than an hour when one the the department heads came up to me and said that my passenger front tire was nearly flat. What! Those are almost brand new tires. I just got them a few months ago.

I couldn't leave my desk since I was the only one there to answer phones at the time so I had to sit and wait. Soon the maintenance guy came in and I asked him if he would take a look at my tire. He came back shortly and said it was nearly totally flat. He said he'd get the portable air compressor and put some air in it and see what happens. I told him that I had hit a really big pothole a couple days ago. He just gave me that look. You know the look. That look that men give you when they think you have the intelligence of a flea. He came back a few minutes later and said it took air OK and he'd check it again in a couple hours. He more or less implied that he thought I drove the 6 miles to work on a flat. I told him that it wasn't flat when I was driving it; I would have felt it. I've had a flat before....I know what it feels like. He gave me that look again.

The tire held air fine all day and when I got out of work at 5, I headed straight for Belle Tire, which is about 3 miles away. They informed me that I had a gigantic SCREW in that tire and they fixed it. I'm gonna tell you that I'm mad that the tire is damaged because it was new....but I'm glad that they found something so that I can report to the men at work that there was something that made it go flat after I got to work and I didn't drive it like that from home like a brainless wonder. I figure I must have ran over it just before pulling into the parking lot at work. How it managed to hold air all day long is a mystery I'd rather not think about....I'm just glad it held air long enough for me to make it 3 miles to get it fixed. *Sigh*

Chivalry is NOT dead.....

at least not in my neighborhood. Thank the Lord. Yep, tonight I felt as though I had been transferred back through time and was living in Norman Rockwell's slice of Americana. It was wonderful...although what led me into it was a bit traumatic.

Picture this. I am driving home from work. I have about five miles to drive on a 5 lane highway. Heavy traffic, going fast. If you don't do at least 60, they run over you. I had just gotten off of that and had turned onto the road that takes me home. I had only gone about a half mile when I felt my car really begin to pull to the right. A lot. The road I was on is only a 35 mph road, so I was going slow. I was about a half mile from home when I heard the unmistakeable FLOP FLOP FLOP and the steering was hard to manipulate. There are dirt shoulders on this road and I pulled over onto one.....right in front of a fenced in house, with two dogs who barked then wagged their tails like they knew me. I got out of my vehicle and walked around to check the tire, which I already knew had to be flat. The front passenger side. As I'm walking around my car, I speak to the dogs and tell them they are good and watch the tails wag even harder. As my eyes land on the VERY FLAT front tire, I hear, "you couldn't have picked a better place to stop". I look up to see not one, not two....but THREE knights in shining armor.

They are all about 40, holding cans of beer, obviously friends. One of them says....we were just sittin' around havin' a beer and we heard that flat tire when it happened. And they just started in helping me....they took charge of the situation. Took the flat one off and put the little biddy one from the trunk on. My tire is not repairable. Its all torn up....what a mess! They chatted happily as they worked, joking about being my "pit crew" and with the likes of them, I surely would come in last place. The sun was shining, the smell of freshly cut grass and lilacs filling the air. I could hear someone's lawnmower doing its job. Kids were throwing a baseball back and forth. It was small town Americana as if Rockwell himself had painted it. I thanked them with all my heart and offered to pay them but they would have none of that. I didn't have far to go to make it home and even though I cannot see their houses from mine, they are my neighbors and I'm proud they are.

After getting safely home I thought about how much different this all could have turned out if that blow out had happened when I was doing 60 on the 5-lane highway, during rush hour when everyone is in such a hurry. I'm so glad my Guardian Angel kept me going until I reached a much quieter area and into the lives of 3 great men who really made my day and helped me forget all about having to buy a new tire. I'll buy it with a smile on my face. So chivalry is NOT dead and ..... oh boy...am I EVER glad.