Sunday, December 16, 2007

Mother/Daughter bonding

Well, the van won't start. Praise the Lord that it waited to die until I had retrieved hubby's car from his work parking lot. Our 15 year old daughter is in the Driver's Ed course, and before he left, her father took her through the basics of the vehicle and the basics of vehicle maintenance to include checking the battery for corrosion and cleaning any that was present. So, off we girls went out in the freezing cold dark (we had to wait until we got home from Christmas Pageant Rehearsals at church) to see what we could see about the van. Turned the key, clickety clickety. Daughter = "I'm SURE it's the battery. I know how to check it! Can I?", so we looked at the battery connections - clean as a whistle(thanks to my big strong airman), and this particular battery has no indicator light. At least none that the girlpower team could find. We were both together in agreement that both of us had exhausted our knowledge at that point. So we closed the van back up and came inside. Her being a teenager, and me being a Mom, we seem to have more times these days where we disagree than times when we agree so this was a welcome time of bonding. I came in and did a little more research via the World Wide (Wonderful) Web and found a suggestion to turn the interior lights on and then try to turn the car on and if the lights dimmed then, it is most likely the battery. So - girlpower off again to the great dark outdoors - she got into the driver's seat turned on the interior lights and waited for me to climb in the passenger side. And here was our very first driving instruction together - I told her to insert the key and turn it. And she did! No, arguing, no questioning, no sulking, no look of "you can't possibly know what you're talking about"(and no me being impatient and cranky)! What a grand beginning to giving her driving lessons! The van? Clickety, clickety and the lights dimmed. We both felt very triumphant that girlpower had prevailed and that S2 was able to gain NO foothold. Our challenge today - figuring out what to do about the van. I can't reach with the jumper cables(it's like 3 inches shy), we do not have a charger and neither of us feel confident enough to try to remove the battery to take it down to whatever auto parts store would want to test it. So, I suppose I'll be visiting a neighbor or 2, or calling AAA to come and help. All in all, I'm thankful for the enjoyable time spent with my daughter and that I can retrieve the memory later when girlpower goes on hiatus and we aren't seeing eye to eye. God is good. All the time.

1 comment:

His Girl said...

how awesome to read you and she working together as a team! I am proud of both of you, and am certain it won't be long before you find out what's wrong and you're on the road again!

great story!