But ... I went to college ...

Dear Family,

Last year Lance and I bought a new van.  We've LOVED our new van, silver with black interior, time that is easy to change every six months, and plug and play iPod connections.  Last year, with all the problems I've had, my car was a bright spot in my life.  Even if I couldn't walk, I could still drive.  Every time I saw my totally awesome license plate (3P14159 in case you forgot) I felt everything is still essentially right in the world.  Ok, so I couldn't open the gas tank or actually pump gas for awhile, but that's what my husband was for.

But as much as I loved my van, it had one small problem.  The windshield wiper fluid never worked.  By the time we realized, it was too far to drive back to Bountiful to have it fixed.  The back fluid always worked but it was quite annoying that the front would not spray.

I looked at it several times, popping the hood, jiggling the hoses, and tapping the fluid tank.  Lance looked at it several times .... hopefully doing more than I did, but we could  never get it to work.  When Wade was in town (our family mechanic), I'd make a mental note to ask him about it, but I'd always forget.  It became one of the problems that I just couldn't get to ... something that would have to be done later.

Well, now it's an entire year later and it still doesn't work.  We, however, got a recall notice in the mail that the dealership in Bountiful needed to fix some other part, and if we made an appointment, they'd fix the recall part for free.  I figured this was the opportunity I needed to get the fluid fixed also.

After waiting 90 minutes, the nice mechanic said my recall part had been successfully replaced and that "some salt" had been scraped out of the windshield wiper fluid and it worked just fine now.

In the back of my mind I thought, "Some salt?  Salt?  Really, salt has caused this problem for 12 months?"  But I was grateful, took my keys, and got in my car.  And guess what? ... the fluid still didn't work.  Nothing. Not a drop of fluid.  Not even a noise to suggest it was trying to spray.  I  embarrassed because it was obvious they had used the fluid to clean the windshield.  I considered driving home and dealing with the problem later, but I was clear in Bountiful and I really needed the fluid to work.

So I went back to the nice guy and politely told him my fluid still didn't work.  He winked .. (ok, he didn't wink ... but he probably had the right too), he gently took my keys and he walked me back to my van where he opened the door and slid the seat back and got in and deftly pulled the fluid handle forward.

Wait ... forward?  Forward?  FORWARD!?!

I've been pushing the handle UP not forward.  Why would it pull forward?  As he walked back to the parts department, I stood and stuttered "but ... but ... but ..." in the snow absolutely caught off guard by such a simple solution.

So there you go.  The fluid has always worked.  They say you gain wisdom as you get older so I guess this week I gained some life wisdom.  My name is now "Jena the More Wise Than Last Week".  At least when it comes to windshield wiper fluid.