It was 6:30am. The kids and I are getting ready to start our day. Everyone sat in the car only to realize, the engine is not working. I clicked on to start thd car again and the dashboard says, “Check engine & oil levels”. I ignored it because that’s not making sense since the car was just serviced yesterday for the routine maintenance. I tried one more time and the car did started.
About less than 1 mile away and still in our community premise, the car started slowing done inspite of gas acceleration. That is when we realized, the car totally stopped.
You can imagine that at this time, everyone is trying to go to work or school. So as soon as I put my hazard light on, I heard one car honking at us, then another, and then another.
One of my kids, Cassandra, 7, started saying, “STOP HONKING!” in a very furious voice. While I see Chelsea with her closed eyes praying.
“Mommy no one cares, they don’t even know why we are stopping and they are honking crazy.”
I tried to stay calm, tried starting the car one more time and it did go. I was able to drive it for a few more miles until we are out in the highway. Charlize, my 15 year old called my husband and started reporting what’s going on. He’s from his 12 hour night shift and has not finished his shift yet. So he said, park the car in the library (we will pass by the library) and we’ll see what to do. Until the car totally stopped again. About 4 episodes of stopping and going, stopping and going and I will tell you, I was so scared not for myself but for my kids in the car. The whole time I was driving while trying to find a safe place to park, the hazard light was on and everyone just kept honking at us. At one point, the car won’t start at all but good thing I was able to glide on neutral to the side and was aboe to safely park. What a morning!
Yes, this is how we started our day today. Our car just stopped on the highway several times while everyone just kept on honking at us thinking we are stopping and slowing down because we wanted to. Everyone was furious, yelling at me. Telling me I’m causing traffic, which I am but there is nothing I can do right now. I wish this is not happening. I wish my car works perfectly and my kids are not scared.
Yes, no one cares. There was too much hate, too much angry faces around, I felt no compassion or sympathy from anyone. I felt condemned for something I did not intend to do. Yes, I felt so much hated by everyone around me.
It was already 7:20 at this time. Imagine almost one hour with this dilemma and kids are still at the back of the car, with my high school who needs to be in school by 6:50 and other kids by 7:15 and me needed at work by 7:30. We are all late, stucked in the road with no ride. I sent a group message to my coworkers at work and finally felt goodness from humanity. “Do you need a ride?”, “Just be safe”, “Do what you need, We are good here”. These are the messages I got from them. And I said to myself, people do care. People care for me and my family.
So started to feel hopeful, tried to start the car again and yes was able again to move a few miles but, the car died again. Fortunately again, I was able glide on the side. I did not listen to my husband to park in the library and totally missed it. Charlize checked our location app and said, “I can see, Daddy is almost here. Hang on Mommy.” I got frustrated that I did not listened and called him to tell where we are. And he picked up the kids, brought them to school, while I started calling for roadside assistance, called the dealer and finally towing services. He came back after 15 minutes, started troubleshooting the car while I was on the phone arranging towing services.
When Carlo came back, I felt calmer and better and realized everything is under control now. Thank God, I was able to glide on to the side to keep me and the kids safe. Thank God Carlo, my husband was on the rescue inspite of the fact he worked on a 12 hour night shift last night. Thank God for my coworkers for helping me believe in the goodness of humanity. And thank God we are all safe.
Other than that, life is good. Sometimes we think that having problems and struggles is such as pain without realizing that everything in life may have been orchestrated. There is a force who guides us and helps us plan to drive our lives and to learn to let go and have faith that things will be fine. In these moments of struggles, this is when we know who are our real friends are and how resilient we are to embrace changes and challenges. Also in these moments of struggles is when we learn to cling on to the people who care for us and love us most. Sometimes we forget to take care of ourselves and the people around us are reminders that we exist, that we are worthy, that we are valued.. that we are important.
I think having struggles is part of life & embracing the challenges while being your best self is the best part. Life is perfect with all its imperfections. Thank God for all the imperfections for making our life perfect. Thank you God for keeping us safe. 🙏🏻
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