Ms. Independent...

Today was a wonderful day! Quite wonderful considering I jumped my car twice and had the battery on my car replaced...

When I got in my car to head to work this morning, I turned the key... and... nothing... I tried again and it proceeded to make a popping sound (coming from my alarm more so than the engine) but it would not turn over... "Okay... No problem... I will get one of my roommates to jump me..." I looked up.... They were both gone. Darn... Checked the neighbors house... Yes! She was still home. I knocked on the door and asked her if she would mind jumping me. I told her I had jumper cables and knew how to use them... I just needed her engine. She gladly accepted and I jumped my car effortlessly the first try and was out of there in 2 minutes!

If any of you are wondering how to jump a car:
1. Attach red cable to dead car
2. Attach red cable to live car
3. Attach black cable to live car
4. Ground black cable to dead car
5. Turn on dead car and get two live cars!

I was quite proud of my speed and my ability to stay level headed! I didn't even get frustrated. My neighbor was impressed and said she learned something. Her husband always jumps their cars and she had never seen it done. I told her I was happy to impart my car-jumping knowledge and glad that my daddy had taught me (this was not the first time I had to jump a car).

I assumed my battery died because I didn't drive all weekend and the charge had slowly drained. I further assumed my ride to work would be enough to revive my battery but alas I was mistaken. When I left the office I was greeted by the same alarm/no crank sound. Darn. I decided not to panic again. "This is no big deal. I can jump it again." So thankfully my boss was still in the office and was willing to come down and jump me... only this time we used his cables (they were longer than mine). After trying twice unsuccessfully to rouse my engine I started to worry... I thought "maybe I can't handle all of this on my own... Maybe my car has something big wrong with it... Oh no..." But I decide to remain calm... I am with my boss for heavens sake! He cleaned off his battery (it had corroded a little and he thought it was keeping the cables from getting a charge) and we tried again with the newly washed battery... Nope... Still nothing... I began trying harder not to freak out when he said it may be his cables... they were hand-me-down cables and he didn't know if he had ever used them... So he inched his car ever so close to mine so we could use my short cables. I followed the 4 steps listed above again and this time... Success! I was relieved and all of my almost panic was for nothing.

I decided to head to the store immediately after work to get my battery tested... Sure enough, I needed a new battery. After about 15 minutes I was out of the battery store with a brand spanking new battery in my car and I am happy to report my engine has successfully started three times since without a jump.

I share this with you 1) to boast in my mechanical skill (haha) but 2) because I felt quite self reliant today (in a good way). Normally when something like this happens, I tend to be a little disheartened because I have to fend for myself. I do not live in the same city as my parents (for the next 10 days at least), it is not practical to call a guy friend for help at 8am... and on some level I want someone to rescue me when something bad happens. However, today I greeted the challenges with some semblance of acceptance. I don't know if this is growing up and I am certainly not an advocate of "girl power" but I was actually and legitimately happy to be able to handle the challenge on my own... however, Lord... anytime you want to send that knight in shining armor, you won't hear me complaining... until then I will continue to hone my mechanical and carpentry skills... Oh yeah, I am going to make quite the wife some day!