impulsiveness

Apr 6, 2010

Yes, this is one of my weaknesses. Perhaps it has a good side to it as well, but today all I can see is the downside of being impulsive.

Remember the GHO? Well, it turns out the A/C condenser is broken and needs replaced. The radiator needs more work. The grill needs replaced, which means the whole front end of the suburban needs replaced. Today was the day to take it to the shop (actually, yesterday was, but I forgot all about it because of a funeral for a friend from our church) and because they will be working on it for 2-3 days we decided to get a rental car.

Mistake #1: Don’t have a policy that only pays $16.00 a day for rental coverage. Rental cars don’t cost $16 a day.

Okay, back to the story. So, I get the rental car and drive home. Right before my house, I see a hitch on the side of the road. I think “That is the hitch from my suburban, I need to get it.”

Now, is the hitch missing from my suburban? I don’t think so. Is it likely to be my hitch? I don’t think so. Hindsight is a beautiful (but painful) thing.

Mistake #2: Remove all logical thought processes from brain the second I see the hitch.

Sooo, I turn around and drive on the side of the road in my “compact rental car”. Compact is an understatement. It is tiny, low to the ground, and nothing like my suburban which can get out of pretty much anything.

Mistake #3: Drive through the 8 inches of snow we got last night to get Blythe as close as possible to the hitch. Don’t want my girlie to get her pants wet.

Blythe gets out and gets the hitch and then I try to pull on to the road, but there are a lot of cars coming, so I decide to back up. As soon as I start going backwards, the car starts sliding…and sliding…and sliding down the ditch. I am now stuck. Way stuck.

Mistake #4: Trying to solve the problem instead of just waiting till the snow melted, which it did approximately 4 hours later.

A farmer stops by with his big work truck full of tools and says “I’ll pull you out in a jiffy.” What could a stranded girl want more than a rugged, older gentleman with a heap of tools? He got out his chain, hooked it up to his beefy truck and dug out the snow enough to hook it onto the rental car. He says “I’ll just pull you up real gentle to the side of the road.” “Sure thing, buddy,” I think to myself. Next thing I know, the grill flies into the air and an awful tugging sound comes from the front of the car. My car hasn’t budged, but something on it most certainly has.

The support brace underneath the car is bent out at a 90 degree angle from the car and is twisted into some shape that will no longer allow it to fulfill its duty.

Mistake #5: Letting someone hook a chain to the car I am legally responsible for.

After a phone call to my trusty insurance agent who has heard more from me in the past six weeks than he has in the past six years, I learn that my deductible is $500 and I will need to pay it to the rental car company today. FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS for an impulsive act to save the hitch that probably isn’t ours anyway!

What happened to my other life? The life that didn’t have a car accident, a collision with a GHO, and an imcompetent Good Samaritan all in the course of a few short weeks.

What happened to my other brain? The one that could think logically, assess a situation, and make a good decision?

I want those things back.

Now.

I can’t afford to be impulsive for another minute.