Untangling Life: Good People

I don't think it's just a Southern thing but there sure are a lot of Good People around here.

Here's an example of one:

Last weekend we took a quick family trip to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Friday after school, I loaded up the kids and the car and drove into the city to pick up Matt from work. From there we (he) drove on up to Tennessee.

(I will post our Pigeon Forge adventures in a future blog.)

On our way home from Tennessee we had to drop Matt off at his office to get his car.

As soon as I got behind the wheel the Engine light turned on and a "The Battery is not Charging" warning started flashing on my dash.

I'm sort of, kind of, some might say, an anxious person and just driving in rush hour (even Sunday rush hour) Atlanta traffic makes my blood pressure soar.

Imagine how I felt the whole 45 minutes driving home with my car flashing a warning at me and thinking it was going to die in the middle of a 6-lane Interstate.

Luckily it didn't!

But the next morning when I tried to go to the gym it did.

Actually it didn't even start so I guess it didn't really die on me.

This was a super busy week for me and I had a ton of errands to run in order to get prepared for Tyler's birthday party this weekend. Although I'm thankful this didn't happen while on vacation is was still pretty poor timing. I really needed a car this week.

Matt was at work and super busy when I called him. We talked about our options. Perhaps it was the battery, or the alternator or it could even be something much more serious/expensive. Unfortunately, he was so busy at work that he didn't have time to find out what the problem was.

He called a tow-truck to pick up the car and take it to the dealer to get it looked at and fixed.

He told me to have $85 cash ready for the tow-truck driver.

When the tow truck arrived the driver (with a very gentlemanly Southern accent) asked me what was the problem.

He said it sounded like the battery or the alternator and said GMCs are famous for alternator problems. He got out his battery chargy thingy and told me that the battery was fine and he thought it was the alternator. He told me he would hate for me to bring it to the dealership because they would charge me double the cost for a new alternator with labor and all.

He also said an alternator is a piece of cake to replace.

I called Matt and he agreed.

I thanked the tow truck driver for diagnosing the problem and he was all set to be on his way without any thought of the $85 he was supposed to get to simply tow my car to the dealership.

(What's it to him if we over-pay...all he had to do was tow the vehicle.)

He even tried to refuse the $20 I offered him for his time and trouble. After I used my persuasive Momma voice and insisted, he finally took it.

He's what I call Good People!

Here's another person I call Good People:

Matt

who came home from work, went out to buy an alternator