Life Lessons Learned

Broken lug nut key...wow! I didn't know I had it in me!

I haven't been on my blog for a year now because of some major life changes. Life happens and we deal with it...and learn from it also. In the last year, I've experienced enough of life's stressors to rate a score of 214 out of 300, (conservatively) on the Holmes and Rahe Stress scale http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holmes_and_Rahe_stress_scale , and am at a moderate risk for developing an illness. THAT being said, here's what happened last night along with the lessons learned so pay attention, especially you ladies out there!

I had a flat tire. That's all? Well, no...that's not all. I left the parking lot of my place of employment and drove straight home but felt something 'funny' about the way it was driving. (Lesson #1-TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS! Pull over as soon as you feel/hear/smell something 'funny' with your car!) I pulled into my driveway and did a walk around just knowing I was going to find a flat tire; sure enough, the right front tire was flat as a pancake. I wanted to kick myself for not pulling over as soon as I thought something was not right. "Here we go", I said to myself, "get out there and take advantage of your flat tire, in your own driveway, and teach yourself how to change it!"

I went to the trunk and located my spare, and thought to myself again, "wow-for an 8 year old spare tire, it sure looks brand new!" (Lesson #2-Inspect your spare tire at least ONCE a year to make sure it's properly inflated!) I proceeded to remove the spare and jack from the trunk and get down to business. The jack has a label with specific instructions on where to place it on your car-easy enough. I placed it exactly where the little picture showed me and started to jack the tire off the ground. (Lesson #3-Before jacking the car, be sure your hand brake is in place and if you have a manual transmission like I do, make sure it's in gear and no, it didn't roll on me last night; just a little bit of common sense being offered as advice.) Before I lifted the car off the ground with that little jack, I remembered hearing that it was a good idea to loosen the lug nuts beforehand. I have fancy wheels on my car and so it requires a special 'key' that looks like a thin walled, long socket with evenly spaced 'ribs' inside of it. I fished it out of my glove compartment, along with the allen wrench needed to remove the cover plate that hides the lug nuts.

Are you getting all this? Don't worry-hopefully your car isn't as finicky as mine.

After figuring out the cover plate, I placed the key onto the top lug nut and turned to the left, (lefty loosy, righty- tighty; learn it, know it, live it!) and felt what I thought was the lug nut breaking its hold on my tire. I placed the key onto the next lug nut but when I tried to loosen it up, it spun on me. No! This isn't happening! I took the key off and felt a sharp edge....It BROKE! It split down the length of the socket! Geez! Ok, what to do? I called my husband and learned that the key for the lug nuts on my car is not something that can just be bought at any auto parts store so I wound up calling Les Schwab. They were terrific and sent a technician out right away. He brought a key but it was not the right size so he had to go all the way back to the shop and bring back a handful of different sized keys. Bingo! Luckily he had one that fit my lug nuts and suggested that when I take my car to have the tire repaired in the morning, I get the lug nuts changed to a more conventional size so I don't run into this problem again. Good suggestion!! After he replaced my flat tire with the spare, and let the car down from the jack and it was apparent that my brand new spare was low on air. Refer back to Lesson #2!

The first thing the next morning, I took my car over to Les Schwab so that the flat tire could be repaired. Well, it wasn't that easy; because I had driven on that flat tire for a good distance, I had ruined the sidewall and it needed to be replaced. Refer back to Lesson #1!

Well, great! I also followed through and had all the lug nuts replaced to a more standard size so that I would not have to go through this experience again.

After reflecting back on my evening, I am just so grateful that I wasn't on the highway, having to teach myself these costly lessons, in the dark and cold. I also learned how blessed and fortunate I am to have friends that are willing to come forward when the need arises.

So, listen up: Men, teach the women in your lives how to change a tire. Women, learn what you can from my experience.

The lessons I learned last night were priceless.