Jump Start My Heart

I recently passed my drivers test, giving me full range of the road and my brand new (used) car. I was beyond excited to be able to transport myself to school, and dance class, but more importantly friends houses and the shopping mall. After getting my license I found myself feeling invincible, and I loved the new found independence I gained from being able to do simple tasks on my own and on my own time. I am a very dependable person, and I’m also known for depending on others, but I was overjoyed that I did not have to depend on my family to drive me places anymore. It felt good to reduce some stress from my dad’s busy life. Little did I know that it would not take too long before I needed my dads help again regarding my car.

One early morning, I was moping around the house getting ready for my long Saturday dance class. I put on my dance attire, and walked at a snail’s pace from my warm bed to my cold car, only to find that my car would not start, and it was all my fault because I had left a light on in the car the night before. Not only was I late to dance that day, but I was rather grumpy because I had to drag my poor dad out of his warm bed out to my cold car that had no battery power. He took the time to teach me how to jump a car without shocking myself or anyone else, and how to not damage my car. A quick fix and a good learning experience and I was on my way. If you’re like me you thought it was that easy, unfortunately we are both sadly mistaken.

The next week consisted of many phone calls to friends and family who could help me jump my car, and although it was extremely frustrating, I became a pro at working jumper cables. I showed off my cool car skills to many people that week, because my old car decided it needed help quite often. I finally got a good streak going, two whole days with a working car, and if you’re like me you just got excited again, but not. Sadly mistaken. Once again.

It was ten minutes until me and my friend Jenny I had to be at work, we both hopped in our own cars, hers started, and you guessed it: mine did not. I motioned to her that I needed her help, because my car did not feel like being convenient today. She hopped out of her car saying, “You can use my car, but I have no idea how to do this!” I quickly grabbed my jumper cables from my trunk, knowing that I was knowledgeable enough to do this without her help.

I walked her through the process of jumping a car, and by walking her through it I mean: thinking out loud and trying to look like I was completely confident in my abilities. Meanwhile, Jenny and I are both stressing out because our “friend” Shyann called about fifteen times on both of our cell phones, asking if we were okay and asking out of the ordinary questions trying to distract us from the task at hand. She thinks she’s funny. I don’t. So, now I am trying to connect the red cable and the black cable to the correct places on the car, at the correct time and in the correct order, while Shyann is continuing to call over, and over,  and over. Nonetheless, I got my car running, hung up on Shyann ten times and, taught Jenny how to jump a car even with a major distraction.

That night I ended up bringing my car into the shop to get the battery replaced, and it turns out I only had half the battery power I should have had. It does not end there, two weeks later my car was back in the shop getting the alternator fixed. Now, my car has started every time since it returned from the shop, and I have not run into any further problems. Although I was frustrated with the issue in the first place I am glad I got to learn something from the experience. At the end of the day, and despite all of the distractions, frustration, and confusion I was able to get my car going and teach Jenny how to use jumper cables. Me and Jenny worked together to help each other. She helped me by letting me use her car and taking all the annoying and distracting calls from Shyann while supporting me and following my directions in order to make the process faster and easier so we could get to work on time. While Jenny was helping me I also got to help her and teach her how to jump a car so that she could do it if she was ever in an emergency. I was able to give her advice on how to do it if she was alone, and let her know she should invest in some jumper cables to keep in her car.

The three weeks that I struggled with my car consisted me helping others, and others helping me right up until I could get it where it needed to be and get it fixed properly. I learned that even though I gained independence as I started to drive myself, I still need to ask for help sometimes. I also learned that asking for help oftentimes teaches me important and valuable lessons that I can use to teach others. In the future I am planning to continue asking for help when I need it and using information I gain from problems I face to help me and others when it is needed most. I do not wish this situation upon myself or anyone else ever again but It was a learning experience, and an interesting and rather fun one at that.

Photo by Marcy Leigh on Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND