Getting Our Honda Back

I woke a couple minutes late, but not nearly enough to alter my routine. In fact, I was engaged in exercise by 540am. Before having my coffee I completed my push-ups. Like most work days, I spent the next 20 minutes online before heading up to wake Mindy. Upon my return downstairs I started meditation then my morning stretch. Both went well. I checked the temperature before heading out on my run. It was a balmy 61 degrees at 633am. I felt really good and ran the full four miles. Back at home, Bella was sitting at the breakfast table looking really grumpy. She explained that she was in a bad mood – tired. She didn’t want to sit by me while she ate. She moved over by Mindy. Mindy was ready to leave for work at 730am. I asked her to let me know if an d when she heard from Honda. After a quick kitchen clean-up, I headed for the shower. I was apparently slow to shower and groom. The kids were already out the door and at the bus stop by the time I made it downstairs. It was 758am. I quickly headed out to join them. Chrissy & I chatted briefly after the kids were on the bus. I was driving the BM’er to work again. This time, though, it was clean and shiny. Lucky for me, the weather’s been consistently nice during the Honda’s shop visit. Mindy called mid-morning. Still no word from Honda. She planned to call them if she didn’t hear from them soon. Early on in the day, I confirmed that it was OK to take Tuesday off as an on-call comp day. At lunch, I drove to Home Depot to buy the materials necessary to complete my wall tile project. Unfortunately, H.D. only had nine sheets of the stone tile. I needed 14. Once again, rather than piece meal the project, I left without buying anything, although I already had a Plan “B”. Plan B was to visit the Georgesville Rd Lowes after picking up the Honda, which we were all but assured would happen that evening. Mindy called around 315pm in route to Dr Julie’s to pick-up her new glasses. She wasn’t happy. She learned that Jason, the Honda service manager was off today and no one knew whether our car would be ready or not. Nice! They promised to call when they knew for certain. Lovely afternoon, by the way – mid 70’s and sunny. I left the office a few minutes late – about 540pm. I was excited about the prospect of having Tuesday off work. At home, I was surprised to see my dad’s minivan parked in front of the house. Mindy didn’t mention that she had invited him for dinner. All I knew was that we were having brats. Dad asked about my eyes then shared his recent pursuit of a newer used engine for his boat, one that has automated hydraulics. He’s currently negotiating with Delta Marine on a price and warranty. It’s shocking how much used boat engines sell for. I asked Dad if he really intended on using his boat. After all, he has two and has rarely used either the past several of years. Said that life got in the way past, but now that he is free and relatively healthy he believes he’ll use it more. He later shared that he’ll be heading down to Florida to visit Uncle Kenny some time towards the end of April, dates aren’t set yet. Good for him! Dad mentioned that he picked up the old track light I placed by the curb. Might have a use for it. It still works, I just didn’t like it anymore. We still hadn’t heard from Honda when dad left for home. That had to be 7pm. Mindy tried calling them but had to leave a VM. She wasn’t pleased. Truth is, I gave up any hope of her getting it back that night. I snuggled up in the chair and did some reading until I fell asleep. Mindy headed to Chrissy’s house to fetch some clothes from her dryer. She returned around 740pm and woke me up. Said the Honda would be ready by 830pm, and Chrissy would keep an eye on the kids. I lounged lazily until 805pm when I went upstairs to freshen up. We left for Hugh White Honda at 820pm. Mindy was excited to get her car back. I didn’t say anything but had a strange feeling that it wouldn’t be fixed correctly. We spotted our Pilot right away and parked right next to it before heading inside. Looked like they had just run it through the car wash. Inside, the kind service writer directed us to the cashier’s desk to get our receipt and keys. She asked Mindy for $70-some dollars. Nope. According to Jason, there wasn’t to be any labor charges. I was surprised that she was so quick to accept our word. Also, as discussed, they gave us two oil change vouchers. While Mindy signed the paper work, I looked briefly at the CR-V in the showroom. I was quick though. I didn’t want to deal with an overly anxious salesman. Out to the Honda. Mindy and I gave the Pilot a careful once over checking everything relative to the dash operation since we knew they'd completely disassemble it. Everything seemed to work, although there was a strong smell of antifreeze. I had Mindy pop the hood, but saw nothing amiss. Mindy headed home. I headed across the way to Lowes to get tile supplies, or so I hoped. In the sky, to our immediate south, was a magnificent lightning show. Unaware of the actual forecast, I didn’t know if it was from an approaching storm or simply heat lightning. The lightning was becoming wickedly vivid. It was 850pm when I entered Lowes. It looked like they were about to close yet the signage said open till 10pm. I half expected to be told they were closing early, but no, they were open. This Lowes had everything I needed including, and most importantly, enough sheets of tile. I quickly carted 14 sheets of tile, tub of mastic, tile nippers, trowel, and grout float, then headed towards the check-out. The cashier warned me that I’d be getting wet. Apparently, it was about to storm outside. Great! I hurried to the Trooper with my bounty. The wind was blowing hard out of the south and lightning was striking every couple seconds, but with only minimal rain. By the time I got the car loaded and started the sky broke loose. It rained hard with strong wind blowing everything sideways. In fact, it rained so hard that I considered pulling over on I-270. I tuned the Trooper’s stereo to 610 WTVN. We were under a severe thunder storm warning with heavy winds and damaging hail already being reported around the area. Lucky for me, It calmed temporarily about the time I entered our subdivision, but once inside it started up again. I heard hail pounding against the skylights and deck but it was infrequent and light. Looking out onto the deck, the hail was about a ¼” – no bigger. Mindy was trying to get the kids to bed. Good luck with that. Bella was crying after several loud claps of thunder. Knowing that she wasn’t going to sleep, I called her down to my side where I had her lay with me on the couch for a while. We watched a very strange program on the National Geographic Channel about the hypothetical effects of the Earth’s slowing rotation and ultimate stoppage. The program frightened Bella. The storm once again eased, so Mindy ushered Bella back to bed. The storm started up again not long after Bella was in bed. She came to the rail of the balcony and shared how she was coping with the storm – she mumbled something about envisioning the thunder as angels and the lightning as something else. Good plan, I responded! Mindy headed to be before 10pm. Because I was off work on Tuesday, I planned to stay up for a while. I poured myself a Jack & Fresca and watched the last 15 minutes of the college basketball national championship game. Duke beat Butler.