Truck Story

Is it so difficult to remember to look at all gauges on the dash board of our vehicle other than the gas gauge and then let your father know when one of them is reading low or the needle is in the red zone......a puddle of fluid is left under the truck. In our family we like to say "In police work, we call this a clue!"

Poor Julia, no I take that back after having a night to sleep on it! She comes in the house yesterday morning with watery eyes telling me that the window defroster is not putting out hot air and she can't see out the windows in her truck. Of course she is already late to school, and Jessica left 15 minutes earlier so what to do? I give in to the tears (David says I'm to soft with our girls) and hand her my car keys and she is off to school in the suburban. I call the school to let them know she is late and they will give her a pass and so on.

My husband gets home from work and says its probably just the thermostat and he can probably replace that and all will be well. Of course, this isn't the 70's or 80's when a person with a few tools could work on their car's simple problems without a hassle. Well, it would cost us more to buy the tools to change the thermostat in the truck than it would cost us to pay an auto shop to do it for us! Poor Dad, his basic male instinct to provide, support, protect or what ever his weakling female offspring was totally shattered. Anyway, he did get to redeem himself somewhat by lecturing to Julia of the importance of car maintenance and especially paying attention to the gauges.

David was doing very well using all his patience while Julia was standing rolling her eyes during this speech, until he asked her when the last time was she checked the air pressure on the tires. She gave the wrong answer by telling him that she doesn't know how. When David's voice became lower than the range of Josh Turner's voice, Jessica and I looked at each other and I pushed Jessica to grab Julia and take her to put air in the tires. You see, David has has actually taken the three older girls and shown them along with reciting the steps to putting gas in the car, changing a tire, and putting air in the tire all long with other car care things. As the girls ran out the front door, David grabbed the TV remote and planted himself on the couch for the rest of the evening.

We have an appointment this afternoon to get the truck fixed. When I take the truck, should I leave David's cell number with them to call for approval of any work, or just give them mine? Ok, I'm not that mean, I'll give them mine and if I feel they are taking me for a ride I'll call David and let him take it from there.