Shannon the tow truck driver 12/12/18

Today I met an interesting man. This man turned my day completely around and just as I was getting ready to indulge in a downward negative spiral in my head he distracted me and pulled me out of it. His name is Shannon and I am assuming he was in his early 50's. Shannon works for a tow company and arrived at Bill Collins Ford on Bardstown Road in all his greasy glory. To my rescue I might add. Shannon is a no nonsense kind of guy with his grease stained hands and such a fuzzy face you can only see 2 'glinty' eyeballs. He looked huge until he hopped out of the truck and landed infant of me; as tall as my shoulders! I am sure the steel toed boots added 2 extra inches. At this moment he presented a strong and calloused hand for me to shake which I found very reassuring. He said, 'Now what kind of problems are they giving you here? Show me where to talk to these guys!' He marched his self into the Service Center and demanded attention. As soon as I let go of his hand I felt better, like I had just connected with a human...he had seen me and I had seen him and we had just decided that we were going to have each others backs. He reminded me of a dwarf off of Lord of the Rings with the way he marched around the service shop. Shannon was there to tow my car off to auction, money from the auction would be donated to the Make A Wish foundation. The plan 3 weeks ago was to get the Ford running so I could either sell it for cheap or take it on the trip with me. If this is your first time reading one of my entries I will let you know that my promise is I will include all the details of my journey. Including the negative, costs, and struggles. So, here goes! The vehicle would not run at all so I needed to get it towed to a shop. I had a family member come over to help fix some things around the house and help me tow the vehicle. Barrier #1 - Vehicle won't run. Barrier #2 - Vehicle will not shift gears or go into neutral unless it is being jumped. Family member that came to tow the vehicle for free has an enclosed trailer. It wasn't possible to get the vehicle jumped, pushed into the trailer, put back in park, drove to a shop, jump it again, and then push it out of the trailer. So, I paid $80 to have AJ's towing come get the vehicle in the next couple of days. Barrier #3 - I followed tow truck to a Ford shop on the weekend. The Ford shop is closed and has a gated parking lot. Can't drop the vehicle off. Had to pay a little extra to drive it another 3 miles to Bill Collins Ford. Barrier #4 - 2 weeks later after back and forth phone calls and having difficulty getting ahold of Bill Collins Ford I finally have a diagnosis and a fix. They are going to install a battery and do something else (I can't remember all their lingo) and this will most likely get it running! Sweet! So, It was $90 to have them even look at the vehicle and run the diagnostics (which took 2 weeks) Barrier #5 - They have installed the battery and it did not fix the issue. Battery was $130. The vehicle needs a new transmission that is obsolete. They let me know that even if they could repair the vehicle it would cost more than what the vehicle was worth. My options were to trade it in or donate it, of course they wanted me to trade it in for a brand new 2019 Ford F250 for $40,000, they would probably knock $200 off the ticket price for my poor little Ford Escape. Insert eye roll here. That is what led me to Shannon. After deciding to donate the vehicle Shannon called me and scheduled a pick up time. I tried to talk the service manager into letting me return the $130 battery since the vehicle did not need it since IT WOULD NEVER RUN AGAIN and I was DONATING IT after paying THEM $240. Alas, my charm did not work as it was not charm but more passive aggressive emotion towards him. Insert second eye roll. I then asked him if someone could help me take the battery out of the vehicle but he said no and maybe the tow guy could help me...I could make some extra cash off of the battery, no reason to give away a perfectly good battery. I looked at him like...ya think? Okay, look at me getting all wrapped up in my emotions again! On to the next. At this point Shannon and I drove out to the parking lot where my poor cold Ford Escape was sitting. Shannon spent about 10 minutes unscrewing this battery from the car, for some reason that thing did not want to leave its comfy spot next to my dead transmission. It also didn't help that Shannon had some interesting tool he was using to unscrew this thing but he didn't seem to mind. We shared a lot with each other in those few moments together. Shannon expressed his disapproval in the business we were at and shared that people just don't care about each other these days and he wasn't raised like that. It may not be 'his job' but he doesn't see anything wrong with putting in a little extra effort and helping someone out. I made sure to express my genuine appreciation towards him and agreed with him. I shared my plan to travel in a RV for a year and take a break from my current life style. Shannon showed so much excitement as he blurted out, 'I lived in my car for 2 years and traveled!' Man he was so excited to share that. In his early 20's his high school sweet heart he was married to asked for a divorce. This sent him over the deep end. He was so heart broken he took his '77 Monte Carlo and took off to Arizona. He traveled to California, along the South coast to Florida and finally circled back around and stopped in Tennessee. Shannon loves cars and working on cars. When he needed money he would set up shop in a Auto Zone parking lot (or business of the sort) and would put out a sign. Something to the effect of, 'Will work on cars for money to travel.' Shannon raised his head from the battery and with his sparkly dark eyes said, 'I made so much money working on cars like that.' Shannon had 2 garbage bags of clothes and a trunk full of tools so he could set up shop anywhere and work. In the 2 years that he traveled his mother never knew where he was but she did know he was alive because he would send checks to her house. On Mothers Day he called her at 2:00 AM to wish her a Happy Mothers Day. Of course, he said she threw a fit and demanded that he come home. He looked back up at me and I think I saw a smile as he said, 'I told her I'd see her in a few hours! I was just in Tennessee!' And that was that. He hasn't traveled since and he can't travel now. Shannon has at least 2 daughters, a 14 year old and a 24 year old. He also has custody of 3 grand babies! 6.5 months, 1.5 years, and 7 years old! His 24 year old daughter is in jail on federal charges and could spend 15 to 20 years behind bars. He said, 'She got hooked on that heroin. It is what it is, she has to learn now.' This moment put some things in perspective for me. This man had been through so much and he didn't describe any of it in a negative manner. His high school love broke his heart. He lived in a car...for 2 years. At one point he was an alcoholic. His oldest daughter was in prison and he now has to raise 3 babies into women. He spoke of these things as they were facts and not down falls or barriers. Just things that had happened in his life and here he is just living another day. It made me appreciate the life I live and shed some light on the 'negative' things in my life, that maybe aren't so negative after all. Shannon was also proud to share that he races cars and that is when he is happiest. He actually blew the engine out of the Monte Carlo twice! Then, rebuilt and fixed everything twice. And guess what? He still has the Monte Carlo! He doesn't drive it often but he is still very proud of it. My time with Shannon was less than an hour but I feel that we both enjoyed our short amount of time together and maybe we needed each other in that moment. To either help distract us from our worries or share our stories with someone that would genuinely enjoy listening to our antics. Shannon shook my hand one last time and then waved to me as he took off with my Ford. Best of luck Shannon, daughters, and grand babies!

Ostara