The Best Sixty Bucks I Have Ever Spent

was on AAA.

We got a letter inviting us to become AAA members. We'd gotten one late last year, but for many reasons, mainly financial, we decided to forego joining. When we got the letter again, we figured we should probably pony up the $60 "just in case" we needed help when making our bi-annual trek to Canada to visit my family.

Well, today, I needed them! It's been below freezing the past few days. Today, I went to get the kids in the van to take the boys to daycare (Maddy has an orthodontist's appointment today and corralling the boys is just not my idea of stress-free dental visit) and run a couple of quick errands with Maddy today. Hustle them all into the car, turn the key and nada! All I hear is "click, click, click". Try again. Nothing. Battery is dead.

Now I'm furious because we just replaced that stupid battery a couple of months ago when it died after I went to the bank with the kids in tow. Grrrr! Hustle the kids back into the house and panic sets in. What if I can't get to my errands? What if Maddy has to miss her appointment? What am I going to do if the van won't start in the morning? (Note: Robin's out of town for training...in fact, he's out of state so no help there! Nice timing, eh?)

Finally, it strikes me that I have AAA! Yay! I call and get the nicest operator who is calm and collected asking me all the questions she needs to get someone out to help me. I am given a 1 hour window in which the help should arrive and a number to call back if it doesn't. No more than 15 minutes later I get a call from a local towing company that the guy should be there in a minute! AWESOME!

The tow guy does his magic by hooking up my dead car battery to his working one and voilà! My van's running again! Halleluia, praise the Lord! I could have kissed him I was so happy to see my van running again.

If you don't have AAA, GET IT! Seriously, the best sixty bucks I ever spent!