He's Watching Over Me

Wednesday, 2 May 2007

Tonight, I went to Joel's (a good high school friend who I turn to for all car maintenance issues and brake replacement on my cars) in Kailua so that he could fix my rear brakes on the Ford Explorer that my Uncle Ray gave me. A few hours later, after some help from his brother, while I held a flood light over his head, he still wasn't done due to the complicated construction of drum brakes and then some hesitation about the slave/wheel cylinder being loose and needing replacement. I was late to meeting dinner at Chris' parents. They had friends in town, and we were to go over tonight. Chris went anyway, and I told him that when we finished I would give him a call.

Well, at about 8:30 pm Joel took the truck for a couple of test drives, pumping the brakes. Then, he told me to try. But warned me that the brakes are soft.

I got in the car, went down the steep driveway, and was pressing on the brake, but it didn't seem to be working very well. I was nervous, but not panicky, until I spun the car around and stomped on the parking brake. I thought for sure we were going to crash into something! It was pitch black....and when we got out of the car to see where the car had stopped, I noticed that I had hopped the curb of the neighbor's driveway, had avoided parked cars in and near the driveway, as well as a pole, and the rear bumper was only a few feet away from a cinderblock wall. My heart was racing for sure!

When Joel asked what happened (he was sitting in the passenger seat), I told him that the car just wouldn't stop. He took the wheel, and parked it back up the driveway, convinced that now I need to change the slave cylinders in the wheels because the brakes are just way too soft. I had forgotten to pump the brakes, and all of a sudden was just going down really fast. Still, I'm amazed that we didn't crash into anything, especially because I'm not familiar with the neighborhood, so I was just following my instinct with which way I turned the wheel and the timing by which I stepped on the parking brake.

Joel decided to leave the car at his house, fix it when he has time, and then drive me home. Although I missed dinner with Chris' family and didn't get home until 10 pm, a bit shook up I must admit, I'm so glad that we didn't crash!

Today, Joel called me to tell me that he got the parts and that he'll work on the car. He also told me that if he had been behind the wheel last night, he's not sure if we would have been able to safely avoid all the walls and poles and cars like I did last night...in the dark! He told me he thought we didn't crash because my father is probably watching over me. It's probably true. It's really amazing we didn't hit anything! We're safe and sound.

Thanks, Dad.