Recall reality

Busy moms don't have time to worry about their vehicles. With a taxi service that can potentially run 24/7, we expect our cars and trucks to start when we need them to, always function correctly and steer clear of major issues that would cause us to be out of a vehicle. Getting gas and oil changes is all we should be responsible for doing, outside of an occasional trip through the car wash.

At least that's what I expect and unfortunately for me, take a good running vehicle for granted until something surprises me. Hubby and Grandpa were discussing their trucks this week and some minor concerns they had. Grandpa mentioned a recall on this truck that was of a big safety concern. Those words "recall" and "safety concern" instantly sparked memories of a terrifying at the time, funny afterwards, experience I had a few years back.

Before I was a working mom, I almost always drove my older girls to school in pajamas. Call me lazy, if you want, but that's how I functioned in the mornings with a baby and two young elementary school kids. Anyway, one freezing winter morning, I bundled up the older girls, loaded them up in the truck for school, and then quickly went and grabbed the baby, letting her sleep till the very last second before we had to leave, a routine we did every morning. I drove the 10 miles to school, dropped off the older two in the drop off lane, and began my trek back home, the baby snuggled in her car seat with her bottle, her and I both still in our pj's.

Not even a block away from the school, with the heater blowing on high, suddenly smoke starts billowing out of the dash of my truck, out of every vent possible! I so was confused at first, as to what was happening and where the smoke was coming from, stating loudly, "What the heck?" I hurriedly pulled over into a church driveway and tried to quickly assess what my next move was. Of course, my main thought was that my truck was on fire and going to blow up, so I rushed around to get my baby, grabbed her and my phone and fled the scene. With just a sweatshirt on over my pajamas and a blanket to cover the baby, you could say it was a tad on the chilly side.

I remember seeing other parents drive by staring, probably wondering if I'd finally snapped and lost my mind. Nobody stopped and nor was I about to flag someone down looking like I'd just rolled outta bed. Instead I called 911 as we continued fleeing the scene for fear of a movie set explosion. While I was trying to explain to the operator that my truck was filling up with smoke, I saw the church doors open and a daycare worker pop out to assist me. Without asking, she grabbed my daughter from me to get warm and let me finish my 911 call. Then I explained to this sweet lady while my homely self was jogging down their church driveway with a barely covered baby on a freezing winter morning.

As the fire trucks and police cars rushed to the scene, the other daycare workers came out and assured me they'd watch my baby so I could go back to the scene. What I wanted to say was, "NO, I just wanna go home. I'm in my stinkin' pajamas for Pete's sakes, with no makeup and bedhead. I don't want to go stand in front of 10 hunky firemen, or even you daycare ladies for that matter. I just want my dumb truck to not blow up and everything to be the same as it is every day." But, instead, I said, "Thank you," and headed out into the cold to discuss the smoke filled interior of my truck to the hunky firemen.

After it was all said and done, it was determined that there was a recall on some electric function button on the dash but I was never informed, so that morning it decided to start on fire. There was no damage to the truck and my daughter and I were able to load up and go home soon after the whole debacle. The daycare ladies enjoyed cuddling with a baby and didn't give me any guff for our lack of presentation that morning, nor did they treat me like we were homeless, because I know that thought had to have gone through their minds. I was pretty humiliated for causing all the commotion once I was informed the truck was, in fact, not going to explode but got a good laugh about it once we were home.