Oh, what a night!

The other night was one of the roughest experiences I have ever been through emotionally. I was at a meeting about 35 minutes away from home. I was on my way home during a big weather change. It was 71 degrees when I left and 42 on my way home. During that time we had a tornado about 1-2 miles from my house which turned into pouring rain resulting in snow overnight. I was preparing to head onto the Ohio Turnpike to head home when all of a sudden my hubby's truck started shaking. Here I think I have a flat tire. I prepare to head to the right birm of the highway. I step out of the truck in the pouring rain without a jacket and it’s windier than heck. I walk around the truck and don’t see anything physically wrong with the tires, but I am not really sure. As I begin to hop back into the truck I realized I opened up the door without looking to see if there were any oncoming cars. I could have opened the door and walked right into moving traffic. What a moron I am! I climb back in and my hubby. I proceed to tell him what happened and he said he would come and get me. It’s 10PM. Em is sleeping my husband is ready for bed, as am I. And it seemed as if our day was just starting. I call my husband back and tell him I am near an on-ramp and I would feel more comfortable if I moved. I merge back onto the highway and head near the toll entrance. I was hoping I’d be able to pull over before I committed to getting a ticket but there has been construction there so space is very limited for disabled vehicles. I had a semi-truck right behind me as the truck is shaking again. I almost run into orange barrels because the truck is going one way and I am trying to go the other. At this point I am a flipping mess. I was able to pull over once I received a ticket. I called my hubby, again and advised him of my new location and the waiting began, again. I am looking in his truck for a jacket to be layered so I can get a better look of what happened outside since there is a little more light with the toll plaza. I take another look at all four tires and they are all intact and on the rim. I hop back into the truck thinking what the heck is wrong with this thing?! I turn the ignition off and sit there, scared out of my mind. I am fogging up the windows with every pant of panic. I find one of my hubby's sweatshirts. I begin to smell it for comfort. I needed something to calm me down and fast. I needed the sensory of something familiar, something close to me. I am breathing with short breaths on the verge of hyperventilating if I wasn’t already.

What seemed like an eternity, but was really 25 minutes I see the headlights of my vehicle pulling up. At last I have 4 functional wheels to get me home! What a sigh of relief. My father-in-law came and met us and checked out his truck. Turns out my hubby's driver’s side tie-rod broke. My father-in-law hopped into my hubby's truck and told me to head home. My hubby drove his father's truck behind him on the Turnpike home with the hazards on the whole way back to the house. Em and I had to turn around so we were close behind my hubby and his father. When we approached them, my hubby and his father were on the birm. I pulled up behind them to see if they needed help, but as I was pulling over they were merging back onto the highway. I then drove past them. I was freaking out on my way home. I drove away. The distance became greater and soon they were out of sight. I was very worried and scared something was going to happen to either one of them. I was having a hard time breathing to stay sane. The whole time Em, is in the back seat telling me its ok mom, it’s ok. She was patting my shoulder consoling me. What a great kid.

We came home. I sat in our living room watching the drive-way. About 10 minutes later my hubby and his father came home. I wasn’t coherent until I saw both vehicles in my driveway. If anything happened to either one of them I would forever feel guilty. It was instantanious sigh of relief.

I am just so very happy this didn’t happen to my hubby while he was on his way to work. He works an hour away from home. He also works third shift. I am happy it happened with minimal traffic. I just wish it wasn't me in the truck. I would rather no one was in there, but it was me. Sometimes I have a hard time with trucks, especially my hubby's… I wrecked his very first truck on black ice when we were only married a week. Talk about making a marriage strong. Now this! Ugh!

The next day dad picked up the part he needed at the part store. All of that headache is $25! My brother-in-law, fixed his truck. He was our saving grace. What an angel. When I heard tie-rod I though lots of zeros for repair. We had a front-end alignment and we spent less than $80 to fix our problem.

I am glad it is all over and we are all safe and sound.

I wrote about On*Star a few weeks ago... Talk about a moment where we really could have used that in a Ford. On*Star should be an available option in all vehicles. I will never take it for granted.