Might As Well Laugh...

I have a tendency to try to find ways to make fun of what most other people tend to view as very serious, often more than a bit scary situations.

My theory is better to laugh at the crappy stuff life sometimes drops in our paths than it is to sit and cry!

Take today for instance.

It was an annoying day, then became a scary one and then, by virtue of looking at the situation through other lenses over my eyes -no, not quite rose-colored ones -but some other color besides rose or blue -by making a few -or a lot of -wisecracks too here and there, I'm in a much better place, calm and going to sit back and let what is gonna happen, just happen and pick up the pieces from there.

Here's what took place.

I had a doctor's appointment in Clearfield this afternoon to have my port flushed. (A port is a little thing inserted under the skin so doctors/nurses can have easy access to the patient involved for administering drugs and/or taking blood tests at times too -used often on cancer patients receiving chemotherapy.) Anyway, I have one of those things and once a month, I have to go have it "flushed out"so it doesn't get plugged or infected or whatever other things might possibly go wrong with them)

On my drive over in my "trusty" little old red jeep, I detected an odor emanating within the car but couldn't quite determine what the smell was. At first I thought because it was a bit overcast and I had cracked my window open a tad because I was smoking a cigarette, that it was coming from the diesel exhausts from the many trucks passing by me. But then, the smell got stronger and seemed to change a bit. By the time I reached Clearfield, it was smelling like a cross between oil and the scent left behind after you have just boiled dry a sterilizer containing 8 baby bottles and rings, lids and nipples for all eight of those bottles and the rings, lids and nipples have all melted into one black pile of hardened crapola in the bottom of said sterilizer.

Yeah -I did that, not just once, but twice. See what happens when you try to do something and fall asleep on the job?

So anyway, the smell was pretty bad.

I went in, had my appointment, came back out and started the jeep up and it sounded a bit sickish so I decided maybe, just to be on the safe side, I should stop by the garage where my ex-brother-in-law works as a mechanic and have him give the jeep a quick rundown and tell me what he would recommend I do next.

So away I went about 2 blocks over from the cancer clinic to Uncle Tom's garage and told him what had happened on my way over, etc., etc.

As we walked outside for him to give it a quick look-see, he was questioning me about the smell, about if the jeep had done this or that, how it sounded, etc., and by the time he opened the hood, he was already telling me he thought it was a problem with the 4-wheel drive on the jeep not disengaging properly or completely.

After reviewing a couple pertinent areas, he said he was positive it was a problem with the 4-wheel drive, that I would need 1 specific part to be replaced and that he felt I could drive home okay with it but advised me to take the back roads home instead of the interstate so I wouldn't have to drive near as fast with it that way.

And off I went -into the wild, blue yonder. Well, sort of!

The jeep was running -not smoothly but running and seeming to handle things as well as could be expected, I guess.

At the intersection to Kylertown, which is 4.5 miles from my house, a car passed me going in the opposite direction and the guy driving was blasting his horn at me. Something I thought rather unusual since I didn't recognize the vehicle at all and had no clue who the heck that might be.

About 1/2 mile to 3/4 of a mile on down the road, that same vehicle that had been blowing the horn, pulled up along side of me, blasting the horn, and a woman with him was yelling out the window at me, telling me "YOUR JEEP IS ON FIRE! YOUR JEEP IS ON FIRE!"

And as I tried to stay calm and quickly pull off the road and get stopped, without putting the jeep in a snowbank or a ditch in the process, I got it into park, turned off the ignition and as I began to unfasten my seat belt, I looked out the window in the driver's side door and saw FLAMES licking up the side of the jeep and half-way up the window!

Now that really did startle me a good bit -the sight of those flames, ya know! My first thought there was Holy Crap! How the Hell am I gonna get out of this damned thing?" I really couldn't see myself crawling across the console and across the passenger seat, calmly, and managing to get out on that side of the jeep without landing on my fat dupa, ya know!

But, Providence was with me and as the guy who had gotten me to stop came up by the Jeep, he grabbed the handle and opened my door and the flames had receded a tad so I was then able to hop out safely -grabbing the carton of cigarettes I'd purchased along with today's copy of the local newspaper!

Yes, I do have some priorities, ya know.

The good Samaritan then had his wife call for the Fire Department as he had no fire extinguisher on him nor did any others who pulled over to be of assistance and he admonished everyone there to NOT try to open the hood unless they had a fire extinguisher or until the fire department arrived on the scene.  (Opening the hood, exposing the fire to more oxygen -well, could have made for even more dire circumstances that already existed there.)

He loaned me his cell phone so I could call home and tell Mandy she was going to have to come pick me up and also, to explain to her the why and what happened, etc. Nothing like scaring the living crap out of your kid when you tell them to come pick you up, three miles from your home because you are waiting for the firetruck to arrive on the scene!

So, anyway, by the time the fire truck arrived, the fire had pretty much burned itself out then although, to open the hood, the had to pry the hood open because the hood release button wouldn't work then! After the firemen checked things over, wrote a report on the information I gave them, the main fireman on duty told me they would remain there with me until the State Police arrived on the scene to do an investigation -needed because this incident occurred on a state highway and the fire company had to file a report and they then also have to call it in to the state police.

Okay -no problem with that because I knew exactly where I had my insurance card, my registration card and my current driver's license too -and that all were up-to-date and as kosher as they possibly could be!

The state police arrived, the officer took a look at my poor baby jeep and shook his head saying "What the heck happened here?" My response was "Well, I made a rather unexpected landing!" Anyway, he looked over the jeep, learned we had already called for someone to come tow it to his garage, checked my ids and such and gave us permission then to have it towed and we could leave the scene.

So that's pretty much how I come to lead such an exciting life, ya know!

No, I don't really think it is hilarious funny that my jeep caught fire, burned and may end up being totalled. Yes I always carry both liability and comprehensive insurance on any vehicle I own too -and I do it mainly because of things like this that could come along and regardless of how low the value my vehicle might hold, it's still the only one I own and I need it and no, I definitely can't afford to pay repairs for anything that might happen to a vehicle I have in the event of an accident of any type that might cause high cost repairs -which means damned near anything today that happens to a vehicle though, doesn't it?

But, anyway, even though this does put me in a bit of a bind, regardless what the outcome in the end, I am not going to sit back and cry, piss and moan (as my ex-husband would say) but instead, I am going to make fun of the things the way they happened any way I possibly can!

Being able to laugh at some bad circumstances really does make the pain medicine go down much easier in the long run -regardless of how wicked that damned pain medicine might end up being!

If you can't find something to laugh at when things take a turn that at first glance may make you think all is against you, what the heck good  is there then in even going on?

Laughter truly is some of the best medicine ever and the only way I've ever found to get through a whole lot of bad situations, tenuous issues and problems I've experienced over the years.

Or, as I tell Kurt and Maya when they are upset about something 'It will be better before you get married again!"

So, have a chuckle or two on the precarious turn my life sort of took today and rejoice with me that it wasn't worse than what it is and no one was injured.

Just my Jeep is now "TOAST!"