PIERCE COUNTY’S NEWSPAPER

JOURNAL

Christmas miracle or just coincidence?

“‘Twas the night before . . .” Actually, it was a couple of days before Christmas when I had a really good day. Not sure if it goes down in the scorebook as a Christmas miracle or just a coincidence, but regardless, this a story that I don’t mind telling. Before I do that, I need to literally and figuratively back the truck up to the first week of December.

My day started off just like any other day. Nothing noteworthy happened until I headed to the gas station. I was about halfway there when my truck seemed to slip into neutral. When I pressed down on the accelerator, all that would happen is that the engine would rev up. To make a long and painful story short, the truck’s transmission blew up. In addition to the financial hit, the guesstimate for getting my truck back was four weeks. That guess would also be tied luck, if I lived a clean lifestyle and if St. Eligius (Patron Saint of Repairs) smiled on me.

A day or so after the truck incident I drove my wife’s Honda to go hunting. Now it’s a great vehicle but it sure has a different feel to it than my truck. Even with my bow and hunting gear in the back seat it seemed more like I was going to Target as opposed to the woods, but I was able to go hunting so no complaints.

The hunt that night was a memorable one but not for good reasons.