Dear Reader:

Wow! The past two days have played out so beautifully I keep wondering how everything seems to be falling into place lately.

It all has to do with my car. Yes…the good old Green Vue. It is still alive and kicking but needed a new headlight fixture and the air conditioning stopped working right after Easter.

I was scared to have it checked because I remembered the last time I took my car in…something was mentioned about probably needing a new compressor soon…but at that time I had been without a car for two weeks and had ended up with an expensive bill over a computer part that took three months of putting money aside to pay off. I had been in no mood to listen to what might need to be done down the road.

As Brer Rabbit would say: “Don’t go looking for trouble…it will find you soon enough.” So when the air conditioning stopped cooling in April…I figured it was the expensive compressor with all its other connected parts and at this point I just wasn’t sure when to call it quits and look for another car. I prayed for the right signs.

When my head light case got cracked awhile back I decided to order the part and then see about getting someone to install it…less expensive that way. And this would prove to be the catalyst for all the good things that have showered down on me.

I had a text from Auto Zone Tuesday afternoon saying the headlight kit had arrived and I could pick it up at any time. I decided to wait until it got a little bit cooler…( at least tolerable with the windows down before I left to get it.)

The clerk I had ordered the kit from a couple of days earlier had told me they couldn’t install the fixture but he had written down some places I could go to get it done. So when I went to pick it up…I didn’t ask about any help for the ordered item… except I did need some new windshield wipers and I knew they did put those on for you for free.

Just as my box was placed on the counter another young Auto Zone worker came in whistling away and announced that he only had ten minutes left before his shift was over…it was 10 minutes to 6. He asked if he could help me…I told him someone was looking up my car information to get me some new wind shield wipers.

“I will take care of that…no problem and I will put them on for you too. In fact I would LOVE to do that for you because then I can leave the parking lot to head home. I replied, “Well if you want to do it and would LOVE to do so…then please do…I would LOVE for you to do it!” And I giggled…then he laughed and said that was the way to end the day…with a happy customer.”

He grabbed the wind shield wipers and the box with my ordered headlight kit and out the door we went. He was so personable…and was having the best time squirting more window washer fluid around as well as testing the wipers. He, then stopped, and looked at his watch.

“It is  one minute after six and I am now a free worker…he walked to the back of my car and got the kit out…“Grab your iPhone and check to see how quickly I install your new headlight cover.”  

“I guess I can do it in 8 minutes” and before I even realized what he was doing he was bent over plugging and unplugging and six minutes later…it was installed.

In awe I responded…”I don’t know how to begin to thank you enough for doing this…now I don’t have to go to another place to get it done.” How did you learn all of this….did you go through the Summerville schools?” 

He looked down for a second and then replied sheepishly…”Nah…none of that book learning…and he pointed to his head…”I just see parts of cars in my head and know how to fix ’em.”

I scrambled to dig up some cash I had in my purse (not enough for his generosity) and I slipped it to him and told him I wish it was more…He said he wasn’t expectin’ nutting so this was a really good something.” He just liked that I giggled and ended his day on a high note.

“I am going to get me some supper with this and that makes me real happy” he grinned.

I then asked if it was possible for him to check my car to see if my Freon was low…my air conditioning wasn’t working right. He said he couldn’t do that there…but he had a buddy who could…and gave me his name and garage location.

Yesterday morning I left early to find the shop and when I arrived I told the owner about his friend from Auto Zone giving me his name . I explained that I needed him to check to see if my Freon was low or what the problem was…my air conditioning wasn’t working.

He told me to sit inside where it was cooler while the boys checked it out. I was so nervous…I just kept praying “Please Lord don’t let it be the compressor…please, please, please.”  Awhile later the owner came back and said they had replaced two valves, were taking some excess moisture out from under the hood with some vacuum looking machine and adding more Freon..that was the main problem.

I was so happy I could have fallen over with relief. The secretary started typing up my bill.. But then suddenly the owner came back in and said “I hate to tell you this but I think you have a weak compressor.“ I am checking it now and will get back to you when I know for certain”…he pointed to his secretary and told her to hold off on the bill.

The situation was getting dicey. ( involving a chance that something bad or unpleasant could happen) What to do…Pray! Hard!

When Walsh was playing football… he was the wide receiver on the Green Wave team. Every time I saw the ball headed towards him I would cup my hands and blow three times into them…all the while praying that he caught it. (Most of the time it worked!)

The young girl who was the financial secretary and I had started talking earlier while the car was being worked on…she had lost her mother to ovarian cancer four years earlier and I told her about living with breast cancer and how lucky I had been. I got her to tell me about her mother and we had really bonded in the “waiting room.”

So now when she saw me standing up nervously blowing in my cupped hands…she gasped, “You do that too!” “While mother was sick I did that all the time…do you blow three times?” I nodded and suddenly she was blowing too for good luck for me.

When the owner came back in…he said they had discovered that when the car was charged the air conditioning was working like a charm but when they cut it off…and it was  idle…it wasn’t staying cool.

I told him I wasn’t ready to put in another expensive compressor at the moment…with the age of the car and mileage…He nodded and said, “You are going to be alright…as long as you are driving and the car is moving you will have good cool air…it is just not going to be so cool if you have to idle long at any point.” 

I was so relieved…”That’s good enough for me…it doesn’t take much to make me happy and you made me happy.” I will be cool and comfortable on I-26 and 526…and those are the two main roads I need to be cool on…to get to my grandchildren and grand-dogs.” The secretary gave me a high five…and I ended up getting another discount to boot because the owner said he was taking an hour off the bill.

I didn’t even ask how long a “weak” compressor might last. Ever since my breast cancer diagnosis…I have learned that there is only one Being Who knows the answer to questions like that …God. So I will enjoy my cool air for however long it lasts and the same thing with my life.

Anne Peterson was the one who convinced me to let someone at least look at the car and see what the problem was….she had the same problem and discovered it was just a Freon issue and not a major compressor too.

Last night we celebrated “cool” cars ….Anne and I got tickets for the Piccolo Spoleto Festival Celtic Arts series being held at the beautiful, historical Congregational Church on Meeting Street. We heard Cillian Vallely and Colin Farrel in concert (along with Patrick Doocey…an amazing guitarist.) I have never clapped so much in my life and/or tapped my foot. They got standing ovation after standing ovation. What is it about Irish music that touches the soul?

We went to Tommy Condon’s Irish Pub before the concert…Delicious!

The round Congregational Church is one of the oldest churches in Charleston…it was purposefully build round, according to legend, because the devil can’t find a corner to hide in if the sanctuary is round. The only “devils” last night were the three good looking Irish ones playing on stage!

St. Phillips Church was beautiful off in the distance as we left the Congregational cemetery.

So until tomorrow…When life gets “dicey” ask for  Divine guidance…

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Tommy and Kaitlyn are keeping Tigger until John and Mandy return….it looks like Tigger and his girlfriend are back together again…could there be love in the air?