Lemonade

I took the car into the dealership and they cleared the code yesterday, and said that it was nothing to worry about. Today, after driving about another 10 miles, the check engine light came back on! And the car was shaking!
So, back I went to the dealership and went right up to the owner. He agreed to fix the car at his expense and he gave me a loaner car until it's done. Between the service tech and my dad (who is basically a car GENIUS -- not that his genius is limited to cars, ... but I digress) we think that they are actually maybe fixing what needs to be fixed, and we'll be good to go tomorrow! Hopefully this will take care of the problem and this car will work really well for us for a long time.
James pointed out to me that the timing of all of this is probably a huge blessing. If the check engine light had come on when we were test driving the car, we wouldn't have bought it, and would have ended up in a much more expensive vehicle. If it had happened in a week or two, we would be paying to fix this. All in all, if this is the sole problem, then we are very blessed in the timing!

There's just one more problem, I was working on using this experience as a teaching metaphor for my kids when they are old enough to date. You know, "sometimes cars and people are just plain gorgeous, and they seem to offer all that you could possibly desire, but if you can't depend on them, if they let you down when you need them most, then the cost of the relationship just isn't worth it."
Now, I have to change my teaching metaphor to something more along the lines of "none of us is perfect. We all make mistakes and unfortunately sometimes we let down even the people we love and care for the most. It's important to work through these situations and to support each other in becoming all that we can be." Or something like that.

Isn't it scary to get a peek into the workings of my strange brain??