"At The Car Wash"

Here's the scenario:
5:00pm Saturday night
2 kids in the van
15 degrees with light snow

We spent the afternoon running between gymnastics, two birthday parties, a play date and an open house. I made my final stop. Picked up Eden and her friend. Headed to Sam's club. As I sat at a stop light I concluded that since my windows were so dirty that I couldn't see out of them I should probably go through a car wash. But even the brief thought of the car wash made my knuckles white and my brow sweat. I'm not afraid of too much, but something about driving into that little groove, putting it in neutral and giving up control to a very large machine that will quickly engulf me with little swooshy things, water and soap makes me nervous.

I drove by Shell, noted that I was low on gas, saw that there was a deal on car washes, and conceded to trying out the car wash. My famous last words to the girls, "I hate the car wash. I can't believe I'm doing this."

But I did. I drove up. Got in the little grooves. Unrolled my window. Punched in the secret code. Put the car in neutral. The light went green. I rolled up my window ... or at least I attempted to roll up my window. This is where my knuckles really went white. My car was heading towards the swooshy things. The water was starting. My window - my window was not going up.

I freaked.

Did I mention that there were two cars in line behind me?

I stuck my head out the window and started flailing my arms and screaming. I frantically punched little buttons on the key pad. I attempted to throw my car in reverse (probably not a wise thing to do in retrospect).

The very dad-like, calm man behind me got out of his car, pressed the right button to get help, and was successful in getting the machine to stop. Still I was stuck. My car was in the groove - rollers bracing each tire. My window was still down. Remember 15 degrees. And my mind was still racing with - "what if's?" "What if I went through the car wash with my window down on a cold winter day?" "What if I jumped out of the car and left the kids in there alone?" "What if all my scrapbook stuff got wet (still in the car from the night before)?"

I was told to go ahead a foot or so and them jam it in reverse. And then my friends I was free!

But I still didn't get my car wash. So I humbled myself to walk in the Shell store to get a code to use on another day and as I did I overheard mumblings such as, "Yeah, some lady couldn't get her window up and now the whole car wash is shut down."

By this time is was 5:30pm on a Saturday night. I stopped at three car repair shops - all of which were closed or too busy to help. I turned the heat up and drove home.

And this is where George steps in. Knowing that the stuck window would result in our missing the much anticipated ski trip on Monday he set to work reading the manual and googling Toyota repairs. He checked fuses. He checked relays. He took the door apart. He growled and frowned a lot. And three very long hours later I heard, "I fixed it!". So, let's chalk it up to a good story for me and a great learning opportunity for George. And let's go skiing on Monday!

Eden's final words, "That's it - I'm NEVER driving through a car wash. My husband's going to have to do it!"