The Check Engine Light of Death

As I was driving home from work yesterday, my check engine light came on.

Car repairs rank right up there with dental visits, hangnails and cellulite: not my favorite. I think it has something to do with me not wanting to look stupid in front of mechanics. But it also has something to do with me not ever wanting to pay money for anything that isn't wonderful or exciting. And these repairs always come right when you feel like you have gained some sort of financial stability, or at least aren't eating ramen noodles anymore.

At first, I pretended I didn't see it. My car was still running quite nicely, no odd smells were coming out of the heater, no smoke was billowing out of my hood.

However, it is hard to pretend it doesn't exist when the neon glow of the light is staring you right in the face.

When I pulled into the garage, I decided to turn my car off and then on again, just to make sure it wasn't a fluke of some kind. Flukes never happen to me but I was feeling particularly lucky yesterday.

That didn't last long. The light continued to blare like it was from Las Vegas.

Next, I pushed as many buttons as possible because that was the only logical next step. Sometimes, I even pushed buttons simultaneously. I figured that is how I power down my iPhone when it isn't working properly so why not try it with a Honda. Tell me this doesn't make sense.

It doesn't make sense.

So I did what any single girl would do who believes that cars and technology should always work and magically fix themselves, I turned off my car, walked inside and decided to take a small vacation to the land of Denial. It is my most favorite place to visit.

The next 12 hours were glorious.

But when I woke up this morning I knew that I needed to call and make an appointment. Thankfully, they could see me right away. I always go to the same place and they are always so nice and helpful. When they asked why I was there, I said "Well, this light came on so here I am."

And he said, "That's great. I am glad you brought it in. Why don't you hop out and I'll give it a quick look-over."

So, I grabbed my purse and my apple and anything else I didn't want men in jumpsuits to see, and walked over to the side and waited for an initial report.

Finally, he came over and said, "We'll need to keep it for a little bit to check it out. The bad news is that we will have to take it apart to figure out the problem. Just to do diagnostics will cost you $116. The good news is that you do have an engine. If you didn't, it would cost you a lot more."

I do love a man with a good sense of humor. And yes, I am glad that I have an engine. That would be a automotive miracle if I didn't.

Now I just have to wait to see if I need to sell a kidney to get my car back. Hopefully not, I am very partial to my kidneys.