"Tick,tick,tick,tick,tick."

So Nick and I left the house this morning a little late... pulled out of the driveway at 7:20ish, rather than our usual 7:10 and headed for the daycare. No problem. We'll drop the kids off, jump on the highway, get stuck in a little traffic and get to work maybe 5 minutes late. Right? Wrong.

We get to the daycare just fine, give our hugs and kisses to the kids and head out the door. We get buckled in our seats and Nick turns the key. "Tick,tick,tick,tick,tick." He tries it again. "Tick,tick,tick,tick,tick." Hmmm. The radio is on. The lights are working. Can't be the battery. Try again... "Tick,tick,tick,tick,tick." Okay. So now what? After weighing all our options carefully, I did what any responsible, level-headed, 27 year old woman would do. I called my dad.

Once he answered the phone, I told him that the car started just fine when we left the house but now, no dice. I imitated the noise for him, "Tick,tick,tick,tick,tick," and he said, "It's your battery. I'll be there in a minute."

My dad is a very smart man, especially when it comes to things like cars, so I trusted him and we waited. As soon as my dad connected the jumper cables to the battery, our car started right away. So he was right. No surprise. And just to be sure it was only the battery and not something else like the alternator, my dad had me turn off the car while he hooked up some battery-testing-charging-radar thingy. [I don't know how] but it confirmed that we had a bad battery and nothing more serious. (Why my dad even had one of these tools?... I'll never know.) So off to the auto parts store, buy a battery, pull up to my parents' garage, and Nick & my dad had the battery changed in less than 10 minutes. I didn't even have to get out of the car. We were at work by 9, only one hour late.

Now I'm not telling this story for any other reason that I was reminded again this morning just how blessed I am to (first of all) have a dad that's so smart about things like this and has all the tools and knowledge necessary fix it so quickly and easily, but more importantly, I'm blessed that he and my mom live so close. I know there are people that prefer to move far away from their parents & families or those that prefer to live closer but maybe don't speak to them very often. I am not either of those people. I love my family very much and am so grateful that we are able to live as close as we do and that I can call on them whenever I am in need. Even if only for a dead battery.