My wife and I were rescued by an Angel, named Joshua, today!

Okay... as we speak (type), it's minus six degrees, here in Chicago... and the wind has caused snowdrifts in my front yard. The sidewalk I cleared, was covered again when I arrived at home a few moments ago (around 6:00 p.m.), and there's been no additional snowfall... just high winds and drifting, causing it to feel more like twenty-below.

Today, naturally, is the day that my younger daughter chose to have her mom and dad (that's me) help her move into her new apartment. The Movers are coming tomorrow.. but today was the prep day... get some boxes packed... move over some "breakables" (ie: the computer... television... glassware, dishes)... so that tomorrow.. .the big guys can manhandle the boxes and the furniture up two flights of stairs into her new apartment (remember Friends??? Pivot!!! Pi-VOT!!!!)

Anyway... as we've loaded up her car.. and she's on her way to the new apartment... we're following a short distance behind... we're heading north on Lake Shore Drive (4 lanes each way... speed limit of 40... but nobody pays any attention to that)... I'm in the left lane doing 55.... and we hear a little road rumble... I figure it's some ice in the wheel well.... rubbing my tire...

I figured wrong.... BUMP - BOOM - THUDD (yes, two "D's"!!)... scrappppppee....draggg.... grinnd.... I have a flat (rear left) tire.... going 55.... I manage to careen.... across 4 lanes of traffic (there IS no left shoulder)... onto the right hand shoulder... at the complete expense of my tire.... (I left the entire tire behind about 100 feet behind me, in the middle of traffic)... rode across the highway, sparks flying as I dragged the expensive aluminum alloy wheel to a grinding halt. James Bond couldn't have done it better.

Sigh... my wife asks "what happened?"....
me: "We have a flat tire"....
wife: "We have a flat tire?"...
me: "Yes, we have a flat tire".

(we've all had this conversation, haven't we?)

wife: Are you gonna change it?
me: On the edge of the highway?... as evening is falling?.... at minus 1 degree Fahrenheit....?? No... I'm gonna call Triple A.

dial tone... dialing

Triple A: (recorded message) Hello... you've reached Triple A (copyright)... due to high call volume and severely cold weather... we're sorry... but we're not even able to take your phone call... don't bother leaving a message, 'cause we don't listen to those.... and even if we did, you'd be sitting there for about 7 hours before we'd get to you, and by then you'd have eaten your left arm. (the right one didn't look as good... a little more sinewy). I don't even know why you pay those hefty membership fees?

(okay, the recording didn't really say all of that... but it was a recording, and didn't offer a message option... and you get the general idea).

wife: What are we gonna do?
me: (light bulb going off over my head)... I know... we'll call the Roadside Assistance that came with the car.... free!

dial tone... dialing... "hello, roadside assistance, what it the nature of your emergency?"

As I start to tell them about my fun afternoon.... What to my wondering eyes should appear, but two enormous tow trucks, which pull up behind me, lights a-flashing!!

me to roadside assistance: "Wow.. you guys are good, thanx" [hanging up].

Turns out the tow trucks belong to the City of Chicago Streets and Sanitation Department. Joshua (the driver) tows me off the road, to a nearby parking lot... lifts the car... changes the tire.... and then tells me that his service is FREE!!! He's not allowed to charge for his service... it's a service that the City of Chicago offers on Lake Shore Drive (and I presume other local highways)... when the weather gets this cold... and they're not even allowed to accept a tip!!! (which he has so richly earned!!). And I'm NOT going to say (here in print) that I did give him a healthy tip... because that would be against the rules, and would get him in trouble... so I am NOT going to tell you that I gave him a nice Holiday Tip, my heartfelt thanks, and wished him and his family a very happy holiday season.

I will, of course, send a glowing letter to the Streets and Sanitation Department extolling the virtues of one, Joshua, truck #2364 on the North Lake Shore Drive route. Hopefully that will do nicely INSTEAD of any cash reward that someone might have given him.

Within a short time frame, we were rolling toward my daughter's new apartment on the newly installed "spare" tire. So I was able to haul heavy boxes up two flights of stairs in the cold and through the snow...

And I heard her exclaim as I drove out of sight.... "Happy New Apartment to Me, and be here bright and early tomorrow!"

- heavy sigh -