My parents are staying with me this week as they attend the Anglican Church of North America Inaugural Assembly in nearby Bedford.
They left this morning with the lunch I had packed them. Then I got a call from my husband that they were having car trouble and stuck on the side of Hwy. 114. He was deploying our favorite mechanic and also our accountant - the one to try to fix the car or have it towed; the other to bring them back here.
They had apparently hit "something big - like a log" in the road and blown a tire, but worse, the car wouldn't even turn over.
Many, many garbled phone calls later (made more difficult by the fact that for some reason Mom can't get incoming calls on her phone), I talked to her and learned that some wonderful, kind men had stopped, installed her in the air conditioned cab of their truck, provided her with cold bottled water, and were changing the tire.
Then Jack the Mechanic showed up, and in short order realized that the inertia switch in the trunk had been tripped, probably by the impact, and that it had shut off the fuel pump. Who knew such a thing existed!? Now you do, and so do I!
The wrecker was turned back; Billy was sent back to our home office to work; my parents continued on their way to ACNA.
I'm so grateful for all the help afforded them! To the tire changers - it's headed to 100 degrees F here today and hot already! My husband, who has a small army of people he can deploy on their behalf (or mine) as needed. To Billy, to whom I owe a big steak. To Jack the Mechanic for his good humor and patience. And to God, for keeping them safe.