It has been nearly four years now since I have spoken of the "Gardner Luck."
Gardner being my maiden name that is.

Right before I got married I got excited over the fact that I may be ridding
myself of the curse.

We Gardners have been known for our bad luck. I soon realized it would never
leave me, no matter if I dropped the name or not.

But it has been especially creeping up on me here lately.

And although I can look at the big picture and see that there are an
exuberant amount of blessings among all this kookiness, I can't help but
make fun of all the struggles I go through.

If you have come to get your picture taken at the studio or have read my
Facebook status updates lately you know just how muddy of a mess our
driveway is. And as it is for many other Hancock Countians.

I decided to run the truck through the car wash on Monday, hoping to at
least temporarily keep the exterior looking healthy. Although I knew it
wouldn't take one trip for it to cake up on the running boards and tires
again.

My mom was riding shotgun and my kids in the backseat as we had just left
the pediatrician's office for a regular checkup. It was lunch time so the
line was long. We waited a good 15 minutes to get up to the front.

It was an automatic car wash, the high-tech fancy kind that do it all, take
it all and supposedly do a good job. I knew my truck was a mess so I opted
for the most expensive $10 wash.

I put in my cash and then realized the machine was telling me I had
deposited $17 instead. It then spit $7 out. My lucky day I thought - only
had to spend $3 for a $10 wash.

After the car in front of me was through, I drove in slowly and VOILA,
nothing, absolutely nothing happened.

And there was nothing I could do about it.

I couldn't back up.

There was no attendant to complain to.

I was forced to just drive on through - and right on out - mud and all.
I am sure the people behind me thought I was just nuts. Perhaps they got a
free car wash out of it all.

I should have known when the older lady in front of me was taking her dear,
sweet time with the machine and then once again taking her dear, sweet time
inside the wash that something wasn't right.

Not sure exactly what she did, but she messed something up. All I know is,
she got a clean car out of the deal and all I got was wasted time and the
loss of $3.

Funny how one moment you think it's going your way, and then the next it
bites you in the butt.

Story of my life.

I tried to explain all of this to my mom, who was baffled in the passenger
seat. This kind of stuff happens to me on a daily basis. I cannot operate
anything, call any automated number or try to solve an issue with something
that is complete technology without the situation becoming worse.

The Gardners were not meant to live in the modern world.

I don't even know why I try sometimes. I should have just parked inside the
manual car wash and sprayed off the truck myself, cold weather, pregnancy
and all.