The day I got a flat tire

A few weeks ago, on my way home from work, I got a flat tire - not an ideal situation for someone who is 37 weeks pregnant. The car in front of me suddenly kicked up an object that was grayish-black and about the size of a brick. I had about one second to respond and managed to avoid it hitting it head on, but it still hit my rear tire. It lost pressure immediately and I pulled off to call Dave for help.

As you can see from the picture, the impact put a good size hole in the tire and dented the rim

Normally when something like this happens I get pretty angry at the situation, but this time I just kept thinking of how it could have been so much worse. In hindsight, I am grateful that:

• It was a beautiful day - a little chilly, but no rain, snow, or wind
• I was able to keep control and avoid a collision with another car
• I was already in an exit lane next to the ramp so I could pull right off the freeway instead of having to navigate across 3 lanes of traffic to get to the shoulder  
• I was only 1 exit from home and Dave was not at school so he was able to come to my rescue really quick
• That Dave knows how to put a spare tire on a car
• My mom was visiting at the time and got dinner ready so there was food waiting for us when we finally got home
• We have two cars so Dave and I were able to work out a way to still get to work and school while our poor Focus was getting repaired.
• Our insurance will cover the claim under our comprehensive policy so we only have to pay the $100 deductible instead of a $600 bill!