I’ve always heard the old saying “If I didn’t have bad luck, I would have no luck at all”. I think someone decided to test that out on me.

Three years ago, I purchased a washing machine. I had to have the latest and greatest. In those three years, I replaced the same part twice, took it apart four times, hired two different electricians to test it, and hired a certified repairman.

If you want to send a mother of teenagers over the edge, take away  her washing machine. It’s not pretty.

It took many hours of searching to actually find an “old fashioned” model with an agitator, that was not high efficiency, and had absolutely no lid lock. The devil himself invented lid locks and decided to put them on washers. I want plenty of water in my machine and I want to be able to open it when I find a stray sock or 12 under the bed.

I found two options and chose the cheaper of the two. Four days. I had the new washer four days. After hearing the most awful racket, I ran in to find the agitator completely off track and flailing around inside the tub. Split the agitator in two and shredded the inside of the tub.

Upon having a chance to escape the madness, I went to Pensacola to meet the church while they were on their yearly youth retreat. I took the opportunity to take some portraits of the girls on the beach. As we were headed back to the house from making the pictures, which is only a two mile distance, we heard an awful noise and the car jerked. I glided to the median and after letting the car rest and saying a quick prayer, we tried again to no avail. The car wouldn’t go, except in first gear. I just got the car in January, mind you. After waking up Saturday morning realizing that a miracle hadn’t occurred in the night and I hadn’t won the lottery, we dispersed our belongings and climbed in the car with others, leaving our vehicle in Pensacola. On the absolute busiest and most crowded day of their whole year.

Thankfully, it was still in the same location when the tow truck arrived Monday morning, and it is currently getting a new transmission. Maybe it will last longer than the new washer.

I’m not real sure what to call a mother with no washer AND no vehicle. Wait, yes I do…CRAZY!

At this point, I am just rolling with the punches and thanking God we weren’t on the interstate when it happened, or on one of the many bridges in Pensacola. And hey…maybe I will get another night at the beach out of the chaos. It’s way too far to go and come in one day, after all. Right?