Suntans, antifreeze, transmissions, AAA, towtrucks, T-shirts, car trouble, road crisis, miracles on the road

OK. So where exactly do I start with this particular blog? We had a great week at the beach as far as the weather went. One cool day. The others were perfect. We had a lovely brand new New York decorated condo, but it wasn't our Tops'l. My in laws had it totally redone and it wasn't ready when our spring break rolled around. I missed our beach guys who took care of our umbrellas. We have known them for 10 years or so. I missed the pavilion, where there are endless fruit slushy drinks that our kids love and wonderful chicken fingers with seasoned fries so we never even had to go back to our condo to eat. I missed the atmosphere of spring break excitement at the many pools, hot tubs and beach. I missed the familiar hum of the building as we parked our car in the garage and made our way to the room. I missed the local areas that I have grown accustomed to over the last 23 years. My favorite shopping places, grocery store, swimsuit places. I missed the long drive after entering through the gates. It was always a slow, soothing ride to the paradise along the beach. Enough about all that. After we had eaten way too much wonderful food, had great tans, bought T-shirts from our favorite places, we began the trip home. My son's car began overheating in Andalusia, Alabama. About 330 miles away from our home destination. AAA came after 1 1/2 hours of waiting and towed it home to the tune of 1011.00 dollars. We all piled the extra people into my car. My husband and son. The car in tow was simply a moving closet as it was packed to the top. As my Volvo was on it's merry way to the blessed Tennessee grounds, my transmission began slipping. Somehow, by the complete grace of God it made it to the next exit where I once again called AAA to come get my car and Enterprise car rentals to come pick us up. AMAZING. I start to feel my strong mother constitution melting away dripping unto the Shell gas station sidewalk. My voice is starting to quiver and my knees feel weak. After making all the physical arrangements over the phone, I decided to call my sister for comfort. Since, my parents are both dead, I usually call her. Who ever said once you hit 40, you don't need help, is, well, DUMB. Anyway, she hears my voice and realizes I am the sinking Titanic. Her words of comfort.....is anybody hurt, in a wreck, or sick? I respond with a faint NO. Then, you are going to be okay. All of this stuff is fixable and replaceable. WOW!!!! Why hadn't I thought of that? My dear husband was talking to the Volvo people, which was frankly more than he could handle. There was little time to comfort each other in this crisis because we were in survival mode with three teenagers in tow in the middle of yet another car breakdown. The strength started returning to my knees, the quiver left my voice, my heart stopped racing, and soon I was coming around. As my mind fought to put everything together......I finally got around to asking my husband about my car, the Volvo's problem. He said with a glazed look, "you aren't supposed to flush the transmission in a Volvo it ruins it." I blinked and said "oh." For you see, the day before I left for the beach, my sweet husband had my car serviced for us girls to head on down a few days before the guys. Among the services was a transmission flush. I start to laugh. My husband cannot even form words. I meet the second tow truck driver in one day and tell him thank you. I tell the three teenagers "this is a great experience for you to learn how to handle a road crisis." We pile our stuff from the Volvo to the rental car and head back unto I 65 North. At this point, my daughter says, "mom did you check the gas gauge? The next thing is we will run out of gas." Today, as I write this blog....my husband and son are shopping for his new college car. We were hoping to wait until May but what's a couple of months early. We got a good night's sleep. We are all safe, fed, alive and well. So.....the trip home wasn't bad at all. In fact, it was wonderful. And you know what? I realize we had several miracles happen yesterday and those weren't accidents at all....they were gifts.