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Health & Fitness

High Inconvenience: Higher Blessings

Lynda StarWriter shares her 2013 vehicle adventures and blessings.

Ushering in the New Year, the first thing I'm going to practice writing is: 2014. Last year, I kept my resolutions simple, narrowing down a list of 551 personal improvements to my top three in no particular order: I resolve to smile at peeps ESPECIALLY when I don't feel like it (given appropriate circumstances); I resolve to make eye contact with people when I smile, just to see what happens; I resolve to pick up three pieces of litter (or more) a day.

I made a video of my first two, 2013 endeavors, documenting the effect right off the bat: Back at 'Ya Video.  Whenever I see a piece of trash on the ground when I'm walking here and there, I pick it up and throw it away. It just makes me feel more…orderly.  I also notice others in proximity respond in kind, like a chain effect.

For 2014, I'm bundling the aforementioned resolutions with three new ideas: I resolve to listen more intently, learning something new about SOMEONE, every day; I resolve to read with more focus, fiction or non, learning SOMETHING new every day; I resolve to walk or bicycle more while conducting local errands.

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Now, I'm going to review, in novella fashion, innumerable blessings bestowed in the last few weeks. I'm also wallowing in the mountain of blessings made manifest throughout this year for which I'm truly thankful.

On Christmas Day, I hit the beach in Oceanside.  I stuffed my surfboard, diagonally, inside the solid, silver Taurus on loan from my sister, Michelle.  In early November, the engine on my Surf Mobile blew while driving home in the evening.  My son, Juan and I were on the way to our Menifee home from Linfield High School in Temecula via northbound 215.

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   "Why is the engine rattling?" he asked.                                                    

   "I don't know, but do you smell oil? I think I see smoke," I said.

   "I think you should get off the freeway," Juan calmly suggested.

No sooner had we conferred when the engine light came on, the vehicle sputtering along the Clinton Keith off ramp. The engine died at the signal, but the light was green. Turning right and coasting the rest of the way, we safely parked curbside just shy of Vista Murrieta High School.

Bellowing out from underneath the hood, the dark gray smoke was a telltale sign to call the Murrieta Fire Department (MFD).  I pondered this for a minute because I'm a retired firefighter/paramedic.  I thought I could do something to douse the heat, but I wasn't equipped to either assess or remedy the situation.  Frankly, I was a tad shaken. I needed help.

Engine 4 crew, Captain Hansen, Captain Dean Hale and Clinton Norton showed up in all of the MFD regalia. There wasn't a fire to extinguish in the seat of all the smoke, but the crew quelled our fears.  They ensured we had made all the AAA arrangements before they left. Assuredly, class act professionals.

My son's friend, Dylan, showed up, too. He was kind enough to take Juan to his home, offering him a ride to school the next day. The tow truck driver, Bear, deposited the Surf Mobile squarely in my garage for the remainder of the evening.  The next day, I had the vehicle towed to Bradley Auto Repair in Sun City: Bradley Auto Service         To Be Continued...

          Lynda StarWriter is a freelance writer and public speaker. 

www.starwriterweekly.com  ~   lyndastarwriter@aol.com

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