Conquering All Adversity

I've been in some stressful traveling situations, and today ranks up with the worst.  However, yet again, I have emerged victorious.

I was up most of the night, kept awake by the wind whistling past the windows and moaning down the chimney. After finally dropping off to sleep, I was awoken at 5am by slamming shutters and the howling of a windstorm.  I ran around the house, follow by a merry band consisting of the puppy and three kittens, wrestling shut all the windows and battening down the hatches.

I went out on the balcony and was greeted by a post-apocalyptic landscape, lit by the pre-dawn sky and an eerie moon, clouds streaming in the wind.

I fell back to sleep for a couple hours, but the day was definitely off to a bad start...

In the early afternoon, I drove down the mountain to Assisi.  Just at the bottom, where I turn onto the main road, I heard a strange noise and felt as if the car were dragging something.  I pulled over and got out of the car.  I beheld a truly horrifying sight: a flat tire.

I could feel my stomach clenching and sinking simultaneously.  I had no phone; there was no one I could call; I hardly speak Italian; it wasn't my car; who knows how much it would cost or where I would find help; and I had to deal with it myself, no one would do it for me.

I stayed calm and did what I had to do.  I walked to a hotel and asked the receptionist for help.  Because it was siesta, I had to wait an hour (watching some Italian soap opera playing on the lobby television), and then another half hour for the mechanic to come.  I ended up riding in the tow truck to a garage near Costano, where they fixed the tire.  No one spoke English, and I had nothing to do while I waited except melt in the heat.

It turns out the valve was broken, so I hadn't done anything wrong. Since it was going to happen no matter what, I have to be thankful it happened on an open stretch of road and that I hadn't been distracted.  But so much stress... I was keeping myself tightly under control for hours and hours with no release from the tension.

I drove the car back to Assisi, emotionally exhausted but triumphant.  The challenge was awful, but I rose to it.