Last night…..

My mom, who is somewhat elderly and has a hard time moving around, needed to go to the store and pharmacy. Being the good son that I am, I took her shopping and to pick up her scripts. This was after the rain has stopped. There was about 5 inches of rain in an hour, so the Gulf Coast being what it is, flooded. Did her shopping, picked up scripts, and headed back to her condo.

Mom’s condo is a gated community, although the gates usually are broken. Last night was no exception. I pulled in behind her garage, opened the door, then got mom out of the car and into her condo.

At that point, I started getting the groceries out of the car and into the condo. I finally got the last bag in, started unloading the items that needed to be put in the fridge and freezer outside in the garage.

Mind you, this took all of maybe 15 minutes, and I was in and out of the garage, while the garage door was open, and was in the kitchen, just the other side of the garage….

I came out to leave, and discovered that I no longer had a car to drive. Gone….. VANISHED!!!!

I was confused… Upset… No, I was MAD!!

Where was my car! It was there not less than 5 minutes ago! I looked at both ends of the drive… Nothing. How could this have happened so quick?

I called my wife… I told her the good news….

Stunned silence.

She told me to call the police and report it as stolen. I told her that I was just as soon as I hung up with her, but she needed to come and get me, cuz I have no car!

I called the police. They came. Took the information, and told me that it could have been towed and I should call the department in the morning to see if it was logged as such.

I had little hope that it had been towed. I just wasn’t away from it for that long. And the garage door was open. Surely I would have heard something, noticed something while making my trips in and out.

So I finally get home. Start making a list of everything I can remember that was in the car. Bowling equipment, mine, my wife’s and both our daughters. 7 bowling balls, 4 pair of shoes, misc equipment that goes along with it. My checkbook.

OMG!!!! My checkbook! I have to call the bank.

So much to do, so many things to cancel and take care of. How the hell am I going to get this done?

Ok. Don’t panic. Besides, I already did that when I couldn’t find my car.

I got done what I could do last night.

Morning…. No car…. Not happy….

Took my wifes car to work. I called the police department at about 9 and asked if they had a report on my car being towed. Why yes. Yes they did! They told me what lot it was at and the phone number to get in contact with them.

I’m stunned. Towed. How in the hell did they hook up to it that quick!

I called the storage lot. Yep, it was brought in. It will be 198.57 to get it out. CASH ONLY!

Stunned silence.

Man…. I want to find an empty lot, get a wrecker and tow for the police. I would be able to buy a second wrecker in a month!

Anyway, I go to the bank, make a withdrawal and meet my wife at home. We head over to the lot, pay the money, and get the car. Everything is in it!

Nothing gone! Even the drink I had is still there, although it’s a little flat, and warm.

So, the moral is….

Never help your crippled mom, cuz it might end up costing you more in the long run.