I had made plans to make the two hours drive to LaVergne, TN (south across the county line from Nashville) to spend the day with my granddaughters and their sons - one I had never seen in his short almost four months of life, and the other I had not seen in over a year.
On my way out the door, I decided to make a very quick detour to drop off my trash at the transfer station. That only took about six or seven minutes. Later I realized these minutes played a big part in my safety for the drive! After being on the road a little over an hour, I came upon a double line of traffic, completely stopped and many of the drivers were out walking around, talking to each other. We had no idea what the problem was, but were hearing the expected delay would be about two hours. That was an inconvenience to me but many of the people were on business and/or doctor appointment trips, plus the large number of “big rig” drivers that were stopped.
First Blessing of the day - I was in familiar territory. I knew I had passed an exit just a short way back that would detour me back to the interstate. But that would mean getting out of this growing double line of traffic and managing to drive the wrong direction along the side of the highway to get back there. As I sat there wondering if I should try that, lo and behold, here came a line of cars up the edge of the road, headed back the other way. Now that I discovered I would not be the only one doing this, I managed to turn around and started that way. Along our journey to freedom from the stoppage, other travelers signaled us to slow down and ask questions. No, we didn’t know what was wrong, but guessed it might be an accident. Did we know how to bypass this after we got to the exit? In my case, I was able to tell them yes. One couple in particular asked me how to get around to make it to Nashville. They were from out of state and seem to be looking at medical papers for phone numbers. I told them I was going to Nashville and they could follow me. After we finally got to the exit I had passed before, I made the turn and headed for the open road again. As I was driving down a long stretch of the two lane back roads, I looked in my rear view mirror to see if the couple had made the turn with me. I was surprised to see a long caravan of possibly 30-40 cars back there. When we got back on the interstate, there were no vehicles coming from the direction we had just left. That indicated to me that the problem was serious and long because we had bypassed at least two other entrances to I-24. Several of the cars and trucks that had followed me pulled along beside of me waved, mouthed “Thank You” and we all went on our ways. That became Blessing #2 - I was in the right place at the right time to help others.
Later in the day, I learned a semi had blown a tire and caught fire. It was at least four miles ahead of where I had been stopped and there were others stopped for at least three miles behind me. The interstate had been blocked not the two hours first mentioned, but ended up being about six hours. The truck drivers and some farmers hauling cattle were unable to turn around like those of us in the smaller cars, trucks, and vans. My heart went out to them.
Side note: I must admit until I got back on track and out of the problem, I had not thought about the people involved in whatever caused the block. (According to the news, the driver was uninjured. Praise the Lord.) I was self absorbed, thinking that I was inconvenienced and delayed getting to see my family. Neither did I realize until much later that the fact I had taken the extra time to take off my trash might have kept me from being at the front of that line of traffic and I might not have been in a place I could turn around. The sides of the highway along that stretch are both flat where I was and a very steep ditch in other places.
I did make it safely and had a wonderful time. On my way home, I saw two wrecks, but both of them were going the other direction. Blessing #3.
As I got closer to home, I thought about pulling into a drive-thru to get something to bring home to eat. I decided to drive straight in and fix myself a PBJ sandwich (definitely not a favorite, but simple and easy) when I got in. I had not been in the house more than 20 seconds when the phone rang. Back tracking just a bit, I bought a new TV two days before and since I still have a big monster analog set, knew I would not be able to move it for the new HD flat screen, I made arrangements for it to be delivered and installed by a Sam’s Club technician. The appointment was for next week. Back to the phone call. It was the technician asking if it would be okay to come out and install it right then - four days early. Yes, of course!!! Blessing #4.
I didn’t know at the time I got the phone call, but during the next couple of hours, I realized I knew the technician - not personally, but knew who he was and things about him - such as he had previously owned and managed a Christian bookstore in town and I had done lots of business there. Blessing #5
This blessing didn’t turn out quite as well. The newer TV would not receive a signal from the satellite receiver. Nothing! He spent nearly two hours on the phone with the satellite technician. He had his phone on speaker so I was able to hear both sides of the conversation. The female voice was one of those that is difficult to understand language wise. She was both reading from a book and asking those around her for advice. The oft repeated phrases were “Are you sure it is pulled in? Now check the connection. Does the TV with the receiver box work? Let’s try this again.” Finally it was obvious she did not have a clue what he was trying to explain to her and the battery in his phone was going down, so he politely hung up. He had already taken the old one out to the truck to haul off, but brought it back in and hooked it back up until I called the satellite company and set up for a technician to come and check their equipment to get the new one working. He said he would come back when I call and would then program the new one, show me how it works, and haul off the old one.
As soon as he left, I called the company again. After I explained what I needed, the male voice said “Let’s try this first.” I firmly told him “There will not be any ‘try this’ because the TV is no longer hooked up and the old one is back where we started. Besides we went through two hours of ‘try this again’ from another person that didn’t take time to understand the problem or have a clue what to do.” I continued with “I want someone that knows what to do come to my house and get this problem fixed so I can watch my new TV with the service I pay you for.” I have an appointment set up for this afternoon. Blessing#6.
I will add to my list of blessings after the installation is completed to my satisfaction. Thank you for your attention of reading this long narration. God bless you.
10-9-15 - The satellite technician came, understood what the problem was, got the TV working in about 5 minutes, even set it up to work with my WiFi. He took time to show me many things about the TV that I either did not know or did not understand. Blessing #7
I played with it to set the color and picture like I want it (still tweaking) and listed the old one on Facebook as a free item if someone will come pick up. I hate for the Sam’s Club man to return just to pick up the TV.
