Flexibility

...is buying a toothbrush from Wal-Mart

and curling up on the floor in a borrowed quilt.

My cousin's little girl peeking between the racks of clothes at Goodwill.

My car sounded like a jet engine taking off as I drove the eight miles between a high school in southern Michigan and my Uncle Paul's place. I had a job interview late Friday morning and decided to combine the trip with a visit to relatives. Julie accompanied me and Mom and Dad loaded the trunk of my car with bags of sweet corn and apples before we left. We heard an unusual noise on three-hour drive, and as we neared our destination it became impossible to ignore.

Uncle Paul took a peek beneath the car and agreed that something was wrong. After we "put up" the sweet corn for my cousin Carmen's freezer, Uncle Paul talked to my Dad and brother and then started calling auto parts stores. Later that afternoon Uncle Paul went to town to buy parts for my car, and we girls went to Wal-Mart and Goodwill for contact solution and another set of clothes for Julie.

The best place to experience car trouble, I've decided, is within a few miles of a mechanically minded man, in this case, my uncle.

Aunt Sandy loaned us quilts and pillows Friday evening and Julie and I camped out in the living room. Uncle Paul spent Saturday fixing my car, while we ladies visited and I took family photos of my cousin Carmen and her husband and three little girls. By late afternoon Uncle Paul deemed the vehicle roadworthy and we headed north nearly twenty-four hours later than we planned.