Gordon's root canal was scheduled for 10 a.m. this morning.
However, at 10 a.m. this morning we were sitting in THIS waiting room.
This waiting room was cleaner than most medical waiting rooms I have been in. It smelled better, and Gordon could bring me an ice cold diet soda to sip on as I stitched! You can't do THAT in a doctor's waiting room (can you?).
So what happened?
We had not made it out of the county when a wreck on the highway just ahead of us dribbled debris on the highway that was impossible to miss. We had one blowout, right front tire, and one nail in the right back tire. Thankfully no one was hurt in that wreck that we just barely missed!
Poor Gordon tried and tried to get the bicycle-sized tire out from under the van. He called a friend to come help. One of the cops working the wreck finished and came to see how we were doing. HE could not figure out the secret combination for extracting that bicycle tire from under the van!
Have you ever tried getting one of those little emergency tires OUT in an emergency? I've NEVER had a vehicle yet where the bicycle tire could be removed without an expert...and when is an expert nearby in a real emergency? (The secret trick turned out to be easy as Gordon has now learned at the Expert tire place. I personally suspect the car companies come up with these difficult but simple ways to make average folks feel stupid! LOL)
We had to have a wrecker. Here is where things started getting funny-weird...or not. If your husband's expert driving had just saved the two of you from a blow out that MIGHT have caused the van to flip and roll off into a deep ditch, the rest of the day might become a little more light-hearted and funny to you also! *grin*
For starters, the blowout occurred just as I finished praying for God's protection on our 180 mile round trip to the dentist in Jackson. We always pray as we leave for any travel. Gordon and I believe that sometimes God allows something comparatively minor to happen to prevent us from being in "the wrong place at the wrong time" where something worse might happen to us.
So Gordon was both relieved that he was going to avoid having a root canal today, but he was also relieved that we were alive with nothing worse than a couple of destroyed tires. So we were in the odd position of thanking God for the blow out! LOL
Once before we were praying for God to give Gordon a Mac, as in Apple computer. In no time, God sent Mac, as in Mackie the Westie! Really, the dog's name was Mac which we morphed into Mackie.
I'm sure we have been far more blessed by Mackie our Special Forces West Highland White Terrier than Gordon has been by the dull gray Apple laptop he later bought! *Grin*
But back to the blowout...So the County Sheriff's Deputy ended up being the one who came out to the farm the night that Mama died. When he determined that we were ok, and it was discussed that there was no way to prove that the debris came from the trailor that jack-knifed and caused the wreck just seconds ahead of us, our deputy said that he was to have been with Trent Lott today.
Now in case you don't know, Trent Lott, now retired, was in the U.S. Senate for a LONG time and was essentially the Senior Statesman from Mississippi. He still is considered that, I suppose, but he no longer holds public office.
Well, if Trent Lott was going to be in Winona or Montgomery County today, then of course, this deputy needed to go there and forget about our little blow out. Trent Lott's family comes from the Carroll County side of Duck Hill which is in Montgomery County, so we "claim him", if you know what I mean. (Do other parts of the country do a quick genealogy run down of who's family came from where, even if the person under discussion has never lived in your county? Or is that a Southern Thing?)
Back to today...Gordon and I were impressed that this deputy was to be one of the escorts for Trent Lott. There was some confusing conversation, but Gordon and I both thought we understood the deputy to say that he would tell Trent about our tire. HUH? We MUST have misunderstood, but since the deputy was needed to escort Trent Lott, we did not ask him to elaborate...he had important places to go!
Within just a few minutes, the wrecker arrived, and the wrecker man introduced himself as Trent Lott!
It seems there is a real person in Winona, Mississippi, named Trent Lott, and he is distantly related to THE Trent Lott on his grandmother's side. Trent has even talked to Trent about their shared name and shared genealogy. Where were the news cameras when THAT interesting bit of news was unfolding? It would be curious to see if there are many facial similarities.
Back to the wrecker ride to the Tire Company Waiting Room where I spent three happy hours stitching... This was one of those big wreckers that requires someone to have a man's upper body strength to climb up into the darned thing. I don't have the upper body strength of a man. *crooked grin*
Thankfully, this time, Gordon was there to push me from the rear to help me get up in this tall truck cab. The LAST time I rode in a big, tall wrecker was about ten years ago in Jackson.
My mother and I were in Jackson for a state convention of the Daughters of the American Revolution at The Hilton. Our van developed bronchitis or something, stopping in the middle of one of Jackson's busiest streets. The wrecker service was "Big Bob's Wrecker Service" or something like that. I DO remember Big Bob because Big Bob had to push and shove two overly dressed, anything-BUT tiny women into his TALL wrecker cab...with his bare hands on our ample rumpuses!
I was embarassed to beyond words. Mama must have been near death from the shock. The only thing to make it worse was driving up to The Hilton and trying to climb down from this TALL wrecker cab, while attempting to appear lady-like in our dresses, hose and heels. Of course, the first people we saw as we UN-gracefully dismounted that vehicle were some of our DAR friends. I don't think anyone can say that Alice and Penny ever made too many quiet, demure entrances...to anything.
Back to today's wrecker ride with Trent Lott...I was nervous and rattled from the blowout, the embarassing rumpus push, etc., so I was chattering away like a magpie. I just HAD to tell our Trent Lott about my previous Big Bob experience, and that I was thankful that I had a husband to do the pushing and shoving today.
Gordon was probably melting from embarassment at my prattle, and from the heat and from the exertion of helping me into that tall cab. Trent laughingly said that he has had to do his share of pushing and shoving to help ladies climb up into that tall wrecker cab. I wondered to myself it this was some sort of male conspiracy to build wreckker cabs so tall just so that the fellas could get away with....well, you know.....
Now we are back home, thankful for a blowout, thankful for a good friend who stopped work to come see if he could help.
Thankfufl for Trent Lott and helpful deputies. Thankful for the two women in the tire waiting room with whom I could chatter about vegetables and sewing and wear off some of that post-blowout nervousness.
I'm thankful for that ice cold diet soda Gordon brought me in the tire waiting room. Thankful for cell phones with which Gordon called that good friend for help and with which we were able to call a root canal dentist to reschedule. I'm thankful that cell phone kept me in contact with Unc to keep him apprised of the situation, and I'm thankful for being able to talk to the Westies by cell phone while I waited and sewed. (What, don't you talk to your dog/cat by phone?)
I'm thankful Gordon's root-canal-in-waiting is not hurting much and can wait until Monday when the procedure was rescheduled. Thankful for Gordon's good driving skills and for his rumpus pushing skills...and for how well he took care of me today.
Thankful for remembering a funny/embarrassing adventure with my mom, and thankful for remembering all the sewing she accomplished while she sat in waiting rooms...however, I don't think Mama ever logged any stitching time in a Tire Waiting Room!
And I'm thankful to YOU for allowing me to prattle all of this out of my system and wind down enough, hopefully, for a much needed NAP! (And Gordon is very thankful he is NOT female! LOL He can't understand while I have been all a-Twitter!)