A Car Breakdown Can Be A Good Thing

At this point in my life, I really wasn't interested in what God had in store for me. I will spare you the details, but I pretty much went back to the way things were before I had become a Christian. No, I’m not proud of that. I’m not proud of a LOT of the things I’ve done! Making great choices was not one of my strong suits. Of course, looking back today, I can see that God hadn't given up on me, even though, I had given up on Him.

So, I’m working in downtown Los Angeles. In one of those tall buildings, as a receptionist for an accounting firm.


I had met a few friends working there. One of my new friends lived pretty close to me, so we started commuting to work together. It really made the drive so much more tolerable. Driving alone, it could take up to 2 hours to get into work. If we carpooled, we could take the ‘diamond lane’ which is like the HOV lane on the east coast, and practically cut the drive time in half! Plus it was nice to have someone to chat with. We just took turns driving, it worked out great.

By the way, here are the other chapters I’ve written so far, if you want to catch up.

A Child of the 60s &70s
Life in Hawaii ~ Vacation Turned Staycation
The Jr. High Years ~The Good, Bad and The Ugly
High School ~ Flags, Driving and A Boyfriend
Last Year Of High School ~ Losing My Way and Finding It
Trying To Figure Out Life

So, life was just plugging along…

One night I was driving home from a friend’s house, who lived near downtown Los Angeles.
I lived about 30-40 minutes away without traffic. I was on the freeway, it’s about 1am, so there wasn’t any traffic… and my VW bug starts sputtering and acting up. Oh, No! I started to panic. I was not in the greatest of areas. I managed to pull off the freeway and stop near this hotel. THANK THE LORD! I found a payphone across the street. Yes, I’m that old, we only had pay phones. I had no money on me, so I had to make a collect call to my mom.

It just occurred to me, that some of you may not know what a collect call is. If you didn’t have any change…calls were a dime back then, then you would dial 0 for the operator. Someone would get on the line and then you would say that you wanted to make a collect call to this number and you’d have to give your name.  The operator would then call that number and ask if they would accept the charges for a call from “so and so”. They could accept or decline. Of course it always cost a great deal more to accept a collect call.

This is one call I did not want to make, but I had no choice. I knew my mom wasn’t going to be thrilled. She picked up the call and accepted the charges. I told her what happened and where I was and asked her to come get me. She and the boyfriend were on their way. Whew! I was so scared, remember it’s not a great neighborhood.  I made a beeline for the hotel and waited there for my mom.

Well, we had the bug towed. Verdict..I had blown the engine. I guess you were supposed to put oil in it. I didn’t know these things! In the meantime, I’m without a car. My friend picked me up for work and drove while my engine was being replace. I compensated her by paying for gas.

One Saturday night, my friend that I commute to work with, called me and asked if I wanted to come over to her house for a party. I said, I’d love too! I was still without a car, and was sick and tired of being stuck in mom’s apartment! My friend was so nice to come pick me up! The party was for a friend of theirs, he was turning 21. I didn’t know anyone but my friend from work, but I didn’t care. It was just great to be out!

Everyone was so friendly and I had a few too many drinks…this one cute guy started hanging around me, he was pretty funny.  I found out he was the brother of the guy that the party was for. He kept reading jokes to me out of a joke book, it felt so good to laugh! Then he did 'the worm' on the living room floor, a pretty wild and crazy guy! We were having a good time. Then he and a friend of his, needed to go somewhere and he asked me to come along, I said sure!

I look back and think to myself… what was I thinking??? I had had too much to drink, he definitely wasn’t sober and I really didn’t know him or his friend! That was a recipe for a disaster! But my friend that brought me there, knew him very well and said he was a good guy. So, I guess I thought it would be okay....He even offered to take me home that night. He had this nice little lowered pick up truck.

I just want to say right here, that it is NEVER a good idea to get in a car with someone that has had too much to drink.  I don't remember a lot of education or advertising about having a designated driver…but no excuses.  It was stupid, PERIOD!!

Thank goodness, nothing bad happened. We dropped off his friend and he took me home. We ended up talking in the parking lot until the sun came up. There was never that awkward moment, where we didn’t know what to say. We just kept talking for hours and hours. We exchanged phone numbers and we finally said goodbye. …that was the beginning of a romance that has lasted almost 30 years. We met on September 27, 1986. Little did I know then, that I had met the man of my dreams….


That is the parking area we talked all night long.... Mike and his nice little truck.

So, can you see how my car breakdown turned into a good thing? If it hadn't broke down, there would have been no reason for me to be at home that one Saturday night. I would have definitely been out and about, and most likely would've never gone to that party.  I would have never met that cute funny guy...Get ready... God's about to do something!

Can’t wait to share the next chapter with you!
Thanks for reading,
Blessings!