Sabi nila, “When life throws you lemons, make lemonade.” Ang sabi ko naman, pag masyadong maraming lemons ang binabato sa ‘yo, bakit di ka gumawa ng lemon pie? lemon chicken? lemon squares? o kaya i-partner sa vodka ang lemon at magparty!
Two Sundays ago, I volunteered to drive for a friend to get strawberry plants for her new business. We bprrowed and old run-down car from her German friend and set off for the two-hour drive. To be honest, I didn’t expect to drive a very old vehicle with some of the basic features not functioning at all. Take for example its side mirrors. It seemed to have a mind of its own folding slowly as we went along, which made it hard to see my clearance from left to right. It also has no horns, which is essential especially for pedestrians and fellow drivers who lack road discipline. The signal lights? Not functioning at all! Oh, and did I mention that the front wheels also seem to be fighting off my steering wheel? It also has no air condition, or tinted windshield, which made the scorching heat of the sun very happy to be seeping through our skin directly. Aside from all these imperfections, the vehicle’s engine performance was commendable given that it’s already, what, almost 2 decades old? I am really not much the complaining type. After all, it was I who volunteered for the job. So my friend and I just laughed our heads off whenever the vehicle did not give whatever it was that the situation required at the time...like, when I had to overtake a slow-moving tricycle on a national road and I simply can’t do it because I had no signal lights and the car moved very slow in uphill slopes. Or when I had to honk the horn for a pedestrian who just appeared out of nowhere. It was really dangerous. I could not count the ties I made the sign of the cross and prayed quietly for a safe travel.
And so, finally, we got to our destination. We decided to take our lunch first and upon seeing our gas meter, we fueled up in the nearest gas station and then...bam! The unthinkable happened. The vehicle just would not start anymore. I kept revving up the gas while turning on the key but to no avail. I thought maybe, we fueled the wrong gas. Maybe, the car runs on diesel and not gas? We had to make sure so my friends called up the owner of the car. He told us that yes, it runs on gasoline. So, what could possibly be the problem? And, what can two girls do in a place where we don’t know anyone to ask help for? I immediately told my friend to get off the vehicle and invited her to have a cup of hot choco in the nearby coffee shop. She was puzzled by my lack of concern for the problem at hand. I simply said, “Beth, when life throws you lemon, make lemonade!” I just figured that since we don’t know anything about mechanics, we really can’t do anything but to ask for help and talk about alternative plans in case the vehicle won’t get fixed. Being cool, calm, and collected is always a god way to deal with stresses in life. So, we ordered suman and hot choco. Mind you, it’s the best suman I’ve ever tasted in a long time!
There were just a few staff at the station because it’s a Sunday! But lucky for us, the gasoline boy was very helpful. He called the owner’s driver for help. Immediately, he came with another guy and, together, they tried to figure out the problem. While they were at it, something exploded in the engine. Oh, boy. That didn’t look good at all. They called up another guy (this time a real mechanic), who showed up after one hour because he was too busy drinking with friends. Well, you can guess what happened next. The vehicle remained unfixed. Next plan, to find anyone who are willing to tow us back to the city. The first driver we asked was very suplado and unwilling. Okay, fine. The next driver said, he was willing but only up to a certain town and for a certain amount. That would have been fine but we would want to go straight to the city without any hassle of asking for naother one to tow us. You know that moment in “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” wherein you have used all your lifelines, and your last resort would be to “call a friend?” That’s what happened. Beth tried calling people to ask if they know someone nearby who can pull our vehicle in tow. You can imagine the kind of desperation we were having as we have been stranded for 4 hours already and it will be dark soon. Imagine, 2 girls, one broken vehicle, in the outskirts of the city, specifically, the boundary of Davao and Bukidnon. You could say that we should have been crying by this time. But no. We refused to be the damsels in distress. We just laughed at the situation that we have gotten ourselves into. Some of the guys who helped us even told us, “What were you thinking driving this old car here?” Oh, well. We just laughed. We really can’t do anything can we? Then, the owner of the gas station who managed to be the owner of the big resort hotel nearby learned of our story. He was nice enough to offer us a room in case we needed to spend the night there. Such a generous and kind-hearted guy! Fortunately, we didn’t have to extend our stay there as the final help arrived. We managed to get a hold of a towing service through Beth’s friend Flor.
To cut the long story short, we finally arrived home 12 hours after all of these began. 12 hours of a string of unfortunate events! But not once, did we let our spirits down. We just found humor in everything that has happened. When finally, I was all freshened up and comfortably sitting in the sala, I asked myself, why do unfortunate things happen? Why me? And then, a small voice at the back of my head said, “why not?” Sometimes, we are all so caught up with the whims of this world that somehow we feel we are entitled to only the good stuff...that we don’t deserve bad things to happen to us. I, for one, am guilty of such “self-entitlement” mentality.
Fast forward to one week after the incident, we found out that something broke in the engine that caused the vehicle not to start. Thinking about it now, it was really not a string of unfortunate events but rather the opposite. The car could might as well been broken down while we were driving along the national highway and we wouldn’t have known what to do. Instead, God allowed our engine to break down just after filling up with gas. He made sure that we were in the comfort of a coffee shop while planning on our contingency plan. He made sure that there were people to help us in the vicinity. And though they didn’t fix the vehicle, I realize now that God sent them to us so we wouldn’t panic and feel secure that someone was at least trying to fix the problem. The owner of the resort was there for a reason. It was God telling us that if all else fails, you can rest comfortably in my arms at no cost.
I am still amazed at how God teaches us lessons in a very personal and direct way. Next time something unfortunate happens to me, I know that there is a lesson to be learned there...and I will just be cool as a cucumber because I know God is in control.
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