I'd sure hate to break down here

Allow me to set the scene for you. A long day of work is done, and it's time to go home. It's rush hour which will be even crazier because it's raining. I turn off of Broadway in downtown Nashville to merge onto the interstate preparing myself that somewhere I will probably max my speed out at 5.4mph. Then I hear it. It's THAT noise. I'm not even off of the ramp yet. I swerve to what little of a shoulder exists. There's no other place to go. There's not another exit for like 2 miles. I pull under the Church Street overpass. Once the cars quit speeding by me, I get out and run around to the passenger side to confirm.

My front passenger tire is flat! VERY FLAT!!! Running on rim flat! Of all days and all places for this to happen. 2009 has not started out so great for me!

I panic for a second. I don't know how to change a tire! Sitting at the bottom of an exit ramp merging on to a VERY busy interstate during rush hour isn't the safest place in the world to do this. Aha! This is why I have AAA. I call the 800 number and answer their questions. The lady can't seem to find my location. She asks "What part of Indianapolis are you in?" INDIANAPOLIS?! What?! I replied, "Ma'am, I'm in Nashville, TN!" What I discovered was that since I called from my Indiana cell phone number, I rang into Indianapolis' AAA, not Nashville. She transferred me to the MidSouth AAA.

I went through this whole process again. The lady asked the same questions. I asked her if there was any way we could hurry on this, because I wasn't sitting in a very safe location. She said she would note that info with my request. I waited for 15 minutes and no one came. I mean, I wasn't expecting them to arrive in 5 minutes, but here I am sitting in my Santa Fe watching the cars whiz past me and wondering which one is going to hit me. Apparently for some reason, I felt it was important to keep my seatbelt on.

I called Justin and told him what was going on. He asked if I wanted him to come and change the tire, but I told him that I wasn't in a safe spot. Probably not the best thing to say. I told him I would call when AAA arrived.

Finally my phone rings and it's the Nashville AAA. I'm informed that after a conversation with the truck who was to come to my rescue, I'm in too dangerous of a location to change a flat tire. (Really...as if I didn't know this already.) I'm told that now they're going to send a tow truck to tow me to a safe location where they could change the tire. At this point, I don't care...I just want to get home.

I've now been sitting here for 25 minutes. Pulling up behind me comes flashing lights. It's TDOT to my rescue! I tell the Nashville AAA lady that TDOT is here and she said, if they are willing to change my tire at my current location to just let them do it. She stays on the phone with me as the TDOT man approaches. His name is Rick. Rick looks at my tire then at me and says, "You've got yourself a doosie here." (I know this...I've already looked at it) He follows that up with, "You're not in a safe location here." (AGAIN---I already know this--I'm in a crappy location!) I told him I was on the phone with AAA who was going to send a tow for me. I asked how long the tow was going to be and was told they were already on a delay. I ask Rick, "Will you change my tire please?" He agreed! Thank God for Rick from TDOT! I tell AAA that I don't need their services and let Rick get to work.

Of course my spare is low on air, so he fills it up, jacks up my car, takes off the flat, throws it in the back of SUV, and puts on the new tire. I let Rick finish what he needs to do to my car and ask how much this is going to cost. It's FREE!!! This is the only good news I've had this week. I tell him I've only lived here for a year and we didn't have this sort of thing in Indiana. He gives me a brochure with the help number and all services they provide. I told him I'm calling them next time instead of AAA...he arrived MUCH faster and I never even called him! Someone driving past must have called me in. I want to offer him a tip, but he isn't allowed to accept it. I can, however, fill out the attached customer satisfaction survey which I've already done. After many thanks, I'm finally on my way home.

I know I make this sound like this was the worst thing in the world...and at the time it was. Can anything go my way this week?

You can probably figure what I'm going to do tomorrow. I'm buying a new tire!