Murphey's Law

This week has been rough. I would even go so far as to say this week has been the most difficult since the first week after Joshua left. Mostly, it was just a compilation of frustrating moments but they all came at once. I had to deal with a family member who lied to me, by omission, and saw nothing wrong with it on the same day that I got an unpleasant letter from Joshua. He was having a hard time...most of his letters are really upbeat-don't get me wrong, he's homesick and misses us but he's strong and he's still glad he's there but he found out some difficult news about his Guard Unit's deployment status. (Disclaimer: Yes, I know, deployments change all the time and until they're actually on the plane to leave, anything can and often does happen). That being said, his unit is now listed as leaving a couple months earlier than expected and instead of the 12 months we had (at least on some level) prepared ourselves for, it's slated for an 18 month tour.

Yeah, that sucked.

A lot.

To add insult to injury (literally, for many), I was upset with certain political decisions being made...certain dishonorable, unAmerican, selfish, slap-in-the-face decisions. (I'm desperately trying not to be political on here but given our new understanding of Joshua's upcoming deployment, it's not so easy).

The straw that broke the camel's back for me this week (and sent me to Walmart to get some Smirnoff Triple Black-yes, I drink even though I'm the only adult in the house but I only do so after the boy is in bed and never more than one drink so PLEASE don't lecture me) was my truck. I love my truck-technically it's a Suburban (I'm also not interested in an environmental lecture on how my gas-guzzling truck is killing the environment and forcing more dependence on middle eastern oil...I don't really care right now...I care about politics, I care about the environment but I also really like my truck).

I took the boy to the Zoo and the Science Center yesterday (and a quick trip to Sam's Club) and somewhere along the way, the a/c in my truck died so as I looked out the window to the bank sign across from Sam's Club and saw the time and 102 degree temp, I hit my limit. I'm not a hot weather person (putting it mildly). I grew up in norther Minnesota...school wasn't canceled unless it was -60 degrees outside or white out blizzard conditions. I like the cold. You can always add more, you can't always take more off.

Anyway, we bought my truck a year ago (used) and NEVER had a single problem with it until Joshua left. It ran great. It did everything I wanted. It was perfect. So perfect that I've even said, when it's time to get another car it'll just be the updated version of my current truck. That was before Joshua left and Murphey's Law decided to play games with me. The first week Joshua was gone, my back hatch window broke-not the glass itself, just the hinge that held the window to the hatch. The night it broke was also first real thunderstorm of the season. It was highly unpleasant. Then, my brake caliper randomly ripped so my back brake pads and rotors had to be replaced (thanks again Shawn!). The brakes were quickly followed last week by my battery cable...it came loose and left me stranded for a bit at the Kingfisher Library (apparently Chevy batteries sometimes just do that). I managed to get to the local shop and one of Joshua's buddies tightened the screw and we were on our way.

Which brings us back to my a/c going out yesterday. Joshua happened to be on a 36 hour pass and got to hear me complain about how much I HATE all things mechanical. He was great. He let me vent about him not being here and me hating to ask for help even more than doing anything mechanical and then he walked me through how to check if the belt had broke. When that didn't pan out, he walked me through how to reset the computer (he said that sometimes when the battery goes out or the cable comes loose like mine did, it can mess up the computer's ability to remember how to do stuff...he actually used much more mechanical terms but that's the gist, I think). Resetting the computer didn't work so Joshua called a friend who came over to the house (on a holiday weekend) and used some sort of gauge which basically said the a/c was broken...yeah, I kind of figured that out yesterday but now we have an appointment at the shop Tuesday afternoon to probably replace some part (the name of which I've already forgotten...like I said, I hate all things mechanical...I married a mechanical man so I wouldn't have to remember car parts).

I'm trusting that this week Murphey's Law will leave me alone and karma (or yin/yang or the law of sowing and reaping or whatever you want to call it) will balance out last week's frustrations.