Life provides lessons on a daily basis. Sometimes it takes a small crisis to recognize while asking, "Hey, what did I learn from this experience?" Yesterday my husband Kevin and I encountered a small crisis... and this is what I learned: 1. Stay calm in the midst of crisis... 2. Keep important phone numbers on your phone 3. Always maintain relationships with your mechanic, car dealership and tire guy 4. Make lemonade out of lemons! We dropped our daughter to soccer camp at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. It was about a three hour trip. We were riding in Kevin's four door car. We were crusing about 70 mph through "Truckers Alley" on Highway 90-94 in between Michigan City and Gary IN. It is an extremely busy road with many cars and trucks. The cold midwestern winter had left the surface of the road in dire straits. Then, we hit something! It sounded like a bomb went off. Immediately the tire sensor alarmed. We figured we must have hit a pot hole and blew a tire. After a few choice words, I watched my husband go into crisis mode. I knew we didn't have a spare and that his tire considered a "low profile" style, needed to be put on by machine. His main objective was to get us safely OFF the highway. The nearest exit was two miles. He flipped on the hazards. Not sure if we could make it without damaging the rim of the tire, he held the car straight and made it to the exit. He said, "the most dangerous place to be is on the side of the road on a busy highway". We got out of the car and looked at the tire. The rim had completely severed the tire in two spots. It looked like someone had taken a knife to it and we were lucky it didn't shred to smithereens. He directed me to go into the nearby Country Suites to get the address of our location. From his cell phone he called a Tow Truck. He gave the Towing Company our location and requested a ride along (for two) to downtown Chicago, almost 50 miles away. Next he called his buddy, Sean at the Chicago car dealership, explained what happened and Sean assured us service and a car to get home. Lastly, he called his buddy at the Tire Company and ordered a new tire. Just like that. Crisis mode for Kevin resulted in a calmness of thought and an action plan. Impressive. (I wasn't sure what I would have done had I been alone? I never thought about it.) Allen's Towing arrived. It was a Ford flat bed with a quirky young driver. Within minutes the driver rolled our car up like a fish on a hook and invited us into his cab for a 5o mile ride into the concrete jungle. I rode in the jump seat of his truck that smelled of grease and stale cigarettes. And only felt concerned when he talked so much that he missed the exit and did an illegal U-turn on I 80. But for the most part, the conversation was lively and interesting and I learned a bit about the Repo industry, Towing industry, and Environmental clean up industry (all things our driver found passionate). Plus, I have never ridden shotgun in the jump seat of a flat bed, nonetheless in the big city. It was an adventure! Thankfully we arrived in Chicago, dropped off the broken car, grabbed a bite to eat and headed home in a dealer car. I felt so thankful for all those who helped us. I had total appreciation for my husband, who because of his quick thinking and action plan, got us to safety... and got us home. And lastly, I appreciated what could have been a disaster turned into a crazy little adventure with a friendly tow. We made lemonade out of lemons!