My
seventeen-year-old son got his first car last summer. It’s not a Mercedes, it’s
not a Cadillac. In fact, my son’s car has a huge dent in the driver’s door
which one of his friends said looks like the Incredible Hulk punched it.
One brisk,
dark morning when my son’s car wouldn’t start, I was transformed like the
Incredible Hulk. I didn’t turn green, but I did experience incredible strength.
My son left his parked in the school bus lane over the weekend. He carpooled to
the championship basketball game with other teammates.
I knew the
car sometimes had trouble starting, but I didn’t anticipate we would have much trouble
since we had jumper cables. We popped the hood on both cars, mine and his. The
cables were placed in position, red on red, black on black. The car sputtered
like it would start, but nothing happened.
I revved my
engine a little. My son turned the key in his ignition. Still nothing. Finally
I said, “We have to push the car out of this spot. The buses will start rolling
in soon.”
The car was
parked at the edge of the loop. Rather than push it all the way around the
loop, I put the car in reverse. He pushed from the front, I steered and pushed
standing on the driver’s side.
Headlights
were headed in our direction. We waited, then pushed some more. After reaching
the edge of the circle. We put the car back in neutral and pushed it into
visitors parking area. When we hit a slight incline the car started to roll backward
a little.
“Keep
pushing,” I said. I had my feet planted firmly in position and moved forward
slowly.
“I am
pushing,” he replied.
We finally
guided the car into a parking space, locked the doors and blasted the heat in
my car to warm our hands. After a few minutes, my son went into school and I
went home.
I missed
going to the fitness center that morning, but pushing a car has got to count as
a workout. Arriving home, I entered the house with my gym bag still in tow and
got ready for work. I wasn’t sick, but wondered if I could call in tired.
Have you
experienced a challenging situation lately?
