Mom knows best

Three Christmases ago, my parents bought my brother and me emergency tool sets for our cars. (Not exactly the dream Christmas presents, I’m sure our faces were not filled with enthusiasm and awe.) However, it turns out that our practical parents knew best after all. Earlier this week, I accidentally left my lights on during my 3 ½ hour class at seminary. When I tried to start my car after class, nothing happened. I was able to call a friend and easily jump start my car with the jumper cables in the tool set. Of course, afterwards, I had to call my parents to express my sincere (although belated) gratitude.

A dead battery stirred up some fond memories from the past, including this story from the August 2002, when I was in Romania:

Earlier this week, I went to Targu Mures, the capital of this county, to get my visa renewed along with my friend Chaylah (another American who needed her visa renewed) and our Romanian driver Relu. As soon as we entered the city, our car died at a traffic light. Relu was able to steer the car out of traffic while he had his left foot out the door pushing it down the street. After several attempts, the car still wouldn’t start, so Chaylah and I (two Americans who had never pushed a car before in our lives) had to get out of the car and push it down the street – in the rain – while Relu attempted to start it. We pushed the car about 100 yards to the first parking space available, and then we had to parallel park the car. (We’d push, then run to the other side and push, then run back to the back…)

Oh, but the story doesn't end there...it gets better! While we were trying to decide what to do, and since we had no jumper cables, we met a taxi driver who was kind enough to help us. Unfortunately, he didn't have jumper cables, either, so we tried to jump start the car the Romanian way – a process that we Americans thought for sure would involve someone’s electrocution. We put the taxi's battery in our car to start it, and then, with the engine going, we quickly switched batteries. This method apparently should have worked, but our battery needed replacement. We ended up having to buy a new battery for the car, got our visas, and returned home.