Not the send off I wanted to give my husband

Yesterday was Alberto’s flight back to Bolivia. We got a hotel close to the hotel because we had to be out the door at 6:15am. If you know me I am not a morning person so the plan was to take him to the airport and I was to go back to the hotel to sleep and then shower after he was on his way to the terminals. Well that was not how the day went at all! Before we even got to the end of the block my car was acting funny. It was running but the power would cut out, I lost my headlights, speed-o-meter, radio, etc… But the car was running and we had a deadline so we continued on. Well I missed the exit to the airport so we ended up going to an unfamiliar neighborhood and had to stop at a stop sign for the traffic. You can guess what happened next. Yep the car died completely, at a stop sign where I couldn’t use my hazards and in a foreign country. Fortunately we were just across from a gas station because I had gotten used to no having my cell phone because it was always on Airplane mode to avoid international roaming charges. After the taxi driver got, to us really quickly I must add, he helped us push the car out of the way. Happily we got Alberto to the airport in time to catch his flight and Ali our taxi driver went above and beyond and helped me locate a good mechanic and he even tried to check out my car to try and get it working again. Which didn’t work. I was already emotional and this just opened the flood gates. Knowing that I was saying good bye to my husband and likely won’t see him for 6 months was already a difficult day. Adding car problems to the day just made it all the more worse, but I had no idea that this day would last until 10pm and it would take me 14 hours to get home. By 8 am I was towed 4 blocks to an OK TIRE. How a 4 block tow becomes $67 I have no idea or how that man can live with himself? The mechanics did a diagnostic test on the car and decided that I just needed a new battery. Which I was so relieved and called dad who was on his way up to give me support to go home. They had me out of there in 90 minutes and I was on my way. Ali had taken me to the hotel to get my stuff because I figured it wouldn’t I stopped at McDonalds because up there in Canada you can get yummy muffins and bagels for breakfast. So I got my coke and a bagel with strawberry jelly. The car ran great until I got in line at the border then the power started doing the same thing and of course there was a long line so I was praying that my car would at least make it to the US side. But nope that didn’t happen before I even got half way through the line my car stopped again. I think many if not all of us have had a car break down before and know how terrible that is to be in the way well multiply that by 10 and you now understand how I was feeling. I can’t recall if I was crying before then but the floodgates opened again. Here I was in line with no way out. So I had to walk past 20 cars to get to the closest border patrol the Canadians. Fortunately they were quite helpful and walked back to my car with the battery pack to jump the car. Well it helped to start it but once the jumpers were off the car died. They also helped get traffic moving and pushed me out of the way. We thought I might have run out of gas, I will admit that I was low on gas but didn’t believe that was the problem. I was upset because there was nothing my dad could do to help me and slightly ashamed because if that was really the problem (although I have had that happen before and the car didn’t react that way.) So I then had to walk into town to get gas. It took an hour just to get through the pedestrian border lines. I then had to go to 3 gas stations before I found one with a gas can. I didn’t expect to have as much problems as I did but figuring out to get back to my car was harder. I knew that I would attract attention, a lone woman crying with a gas can at an international border. Sure enough a border agent got out of his truck to talk to me and I told him I had no idea how to get back to the border. And yes I was crying. I finally after 2 hours of breaking down got back to my car and put all the gas in the car. It didn’t work! Boy was I pissed, all that effort and time and it wasn’t that. Dad had been in contact with the mechanic and had him send me a tow truck. I ended up waiting in the border sitting on the ground using the only electrical outlet to charge my phone. Eventually the tow truck driver made it to my car and we made back into Canada. The problem ended up being my alternator and I was back in the mechanic shop at 3:30 which I then realized that I hadn’t eaten since 10am. I was tempted to go get some food but dad and mom were waiting for me about 30 minutes over the border and offered dinner. I am no fool, free dinner with your parents is hard to turn down. I can not tell you how good getting to the states was. I thoroughly enjoyed being with my parents and eventually getting home. Boy I don’t think I have enjoyed a shower and being home as much since I was probably a teenager and going home from girls camp. Now I need the next 4-6 months to fly by because a part of me is missing and 5320 miles away.