car saga part 1

Almost a year ago, my car stopped working coming off of 316, and I had to be towed back to home.  Definitely a situation I could have done without, but I lived and learned.  Last Saturday I was coming into home and my car sorta did the same thing.  Fortunately, I was pulling into home so I called the tow truck and had my car taken away on Monday morning.  I distinctly remember saying to someone, "this should be wrapped by Wednesday or Thursday!" and hoping it wouldn't wipe out too much of my savings.

Ha. Ha. Ha.

I get a call Monday at around lunchtime and the friendly folks tell me my car needs a new transmission to the tune of $3,100.  I'm not going to joke here folks, I started bawling.  I had NO idea what to do.  Then I quickly wised up and started calling people who are way smarter than me.  One person started calling around trying to find me a better deal.  Another quickly offered abundant support, saying "Well, I don't know what to do or what to tell you, but but I sure can support you emotionally!"  I was given really, really good advice over a couple days.

This week was topsy-turvy.  Take out a car loan and fix the transmission?  Sell it for what I can (with an out transmission) and work on getting a new car?  And back & forth, and back & forth, and back at forth.  I sent this email to my friend Julie because this was my case for about 2 days:

So this car thing can be best summarized with this:

I get mostly set on one decision with the car, yay!

Then I get more (good) advice, which makes me (wisely) question my decision.

Back to neutral ground.

I go the other way on the decision with the car, yay!

Then I get more (good) advice, which again makes me (wisely) question my decision.

Back to the middle.

Finally, I committed to a decision:  Sell the thing for what I can and buy a new car.  Done and done.  Brooke had picked me up from work and I was telling her why this was the good plan, blah blah blah when my phone rang.  It was someone who I had called for a quote at the beginning of the week and hadn't heard back from.  He tells me a price less than HALF for what I'd been hearing. Saywhat?  Don't you know I JUST made the decision?!  What??  We talk, and I hang up the phone.  I'm pretty sure Brookie who could hear all of the conversation was smirking.

Right back to the drawing board, but with a better option on the table.  Call my peoples (who I can't thank the Lord enough for) and get their input, which lines up with what I was thinking when I heard about this:  fix the car, get it running, drive it for a couple months, then sell it and move forward with a new car.  Yes, I could (obvi) keep my fixed and (well) running car, but I think it's time to change wheels (and I can sell it for more the fewer miles it has on it).

My car's at the doctor now, and I'm borrowing a friends car for the weekend.  That's all I know.  I don't know when it's going to be fixed, but I do know a ball is (finally) rolling instead of just sitting idle on the court.  I do know this:

• I am so, so, so, so, so, SO THANKFUL for the people in my life.  I have never felt alone, and I have been more than well advised and taken care of.
• I have learned some new things.
• I trust the Lord even more than I did last week.

Thank You, Lord.

Here's to part 2 (and probably part 3, good gracious...car buying...I'm hoping to wrap that up FAST because I can over-think something to death).