Pray harder, sinners

A funny thing happened at the mechanic's

The Subaru and me in happier times; though I bought it used, I asked the sales guy to put a bow on it, and he did. (But did you know you don’t get to keep the bow?)

The Subaru had developed a distinct whine, and because it already needed a brake job, I casually asked the mechanic to check the noise, because what the hell.

Of course the noise turned out to be the transmission, a replacement for which does not come cheap. I still owe quite a lot on the car, and after giving it about five minutes’ thought, I bit the bullet and asked they go ahead with the repairs. The part that will cost me greatly looks like this:

I mean, I guess it’s pretty, but still.

And then I hung up and got mad. I used to tell the sons that the best definition of being middle class is that you save up money for, say, a vacation, and then the car breaks down or the dryer needs replaced, and then you can’t be angry because, well, at least you have money to pay for what you have to, and you put off the vacation. (That was mostly a lie, because I can think of five instances where I was building a vacation fund and something broke and we went on vacation, anyway.)

(Funny enough, I just put money down on a Florida vacation with the grandchildren, but you know? What are you gonna do? Whip out the credit card, bite the bullet, and keep on moving down the road. And stuff.)

I worked through my anger fairly quickly, and then I posted this on Facebook because at its heart, car repairs are stupid and kind of funny:

It was a goof, but I have to tell you, the responses were hilarious (and sweet; one woman offered to set up a Go Fund Me for me, but no. I’ve got this). I spent the evening checking the responses and laughing my financial woes away.

One of my favorites:

Then we get all theological:

(I happen to agree.)

The next one is funny just because.

And then there were the legal minds:

This is one of my favorite members of the clergy:

There’s no answer for this one, or the next one:

Strangely, the responses on Facebook made me feel better about all this. It’s good to have friends — even Facebook ones — with senses of humor. Onward. Into the week.