Saturday morning Tom's car would not start (see Saturday's blog).After Darcy's first soccer match Tom returned home to take care of the situation. I had been out with my friend, Kelly and my mother-in-law, MaryAnne looking at rental properties. Because our neighbor next door was having a garage sale and cars were lined up and down our street, Kelly and MaryAnne had parked their cars in our driveway. Tom had to park the van in the street and could not use it to jump his car. Since MaryAnne's car was the closest he opted to use her vehicle. Kelly, MaryAnne, and I stayed outside to offer our expert opinions and help.
The jumper cables did not extend between the two cars.
Once that was accomplished he began to hook the jumper cable to the battery on his car. I handed Kelly a pad of paper and she went to take notes.
Kelly: "I'll take notes."
Tom: "That is not helpful."
Kelly: "Well, it will be helpful the next time my bettery is dead. I will know how to do it, and I won't have to call you to help, which will, in the long run, be helpful to you. See?"
Tom: No response.
He hooked up the cables and started his mother's car. He then went to start his car and it powered right up. We all cheered and clapped and watched as he cleaned up the cables and drove his mother's car back off the lawn, out into the road and back up into the driveway. We asked him how he felt.
End Result:
Tom: "Without my Mother, I wouldn't have been able to do any of this!"
Our offered solution: We had already told him that MaryAnne's car was too far away for those cables to connect. We offered up that the car would need to be moved.
Tom's Response: "I can't move my car."
Our offered solution: We would move MaryAnne's car closer to Tom's car.
End Result: Tom smiled what looked like an insincere smile and put out his hands for the keys. He then got into his mother's car.
Problem #2: He began backing the car out of the driveway, stopped and sat there for quite a large amount of time. Kelly walked over to see what the problem was and Tom told her that he couldn't figure out how to adjust the seat.
Problem #2: He began backing the car out of the driveway, stopped and sat there for quite a large amount of time. Kelly walked over to see what the problem was and Tom told her that he couldn't figure out how to adjust the seat.
Kelly's offered solution: "Do you really need to adjust the seat? You're only going to be in the car for a second."
Tom's response: "I want to be comfortable on my drive."
End Result: Tom backed the car out of the driveway (which took a while due to garage sale seekers driving in a steady stream down our road), manuevered it around the van until it was on the grass on the other side of his car.
Once that was accomplished he began to hook the jumper cable to the battery on his car. I handed Kelly a pad of paper and she went to take notes.Kelly: "I'll take notes."
Tom: "That is not helpful."
Kelly: "Well, it will be helpful the next time my bettery is dead. I will know how to do it, and I won't have to call you to help, which will, in the long run, be helpful to you. See?"
Tom: No response.
He hooked up the cables and started his mother's car. He then went to start his car and it powered right up. We all cheered and clapped and watched as he cleaned up the cables and drove his mother's car back off the lawn, out into the road and back up into the driveway. We asked him how he felt.
End Result:
Tom: "Without my Mother, I wouldn't have been able to do any of this!"
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