This evening the Transmission in our backup vehicle, a 1972 F-250 with over 203,000 miles on it, continued to give up the ghost so to speak and will now not shift into 3rd gear. We have been driving this truck pretty steady since we took our primary vehicle (my work truck) into the shop two and a half weeks ago to have its transmission rebuilt.

This backup truck, although up there in years, is in pretty good shape and has been fairly dependable in spite of its age. This 1972 pickup was my fathers and has great sentimental value to me. Dad was a mechanic by profession and had taken good care of it.

It has needed attention over the years which is normal for any vehicle, however this last two weeks it has been showing signs of its age. In fact last week in a discussion with our mechanic we had determined that given what we were seeing with the motor it should be rebuilt.

Why am I mentioning this in my blog? Well let’s see if I can shift gears. Ha, Ha, Ha, pun intended.

In reading the Greatest Salesman, the book states, that “eventually I will find myself reacting to all situations which confront me, as I was commanded in the scrolls to react.”

Well, how did I react to realizing that in addition to a motor rebuild, I would also need to rebuild the transmission? I reacted with a bit of calmness and some humor. I mean who would have ever dreamt up such a situation as we were experiencing.

The thought even came to my mind, that this will make a good ‘come from behind’ story. Our primary vehicle being in the shop for a transmission rebuilt and now our backup vehicle needs a motor and a transmission rebuild.

We have been two and a half weeks without my work truck and it looks like we will not get it back until the end of next week or the first of the next making it possibly 4 weeks without our primary vehicle.

Why do I bring this up? It is because of the way both my wife and I reacted. I laughed a bit at the humor involved in such a predicament. Who would ever have thought? Both Vehicles at the same time with similar critical issues. We looked for the good in the situation. At least now we know about the situation and it is not hitting us by surprise somewhere out in the middle of nowhere. It could have been worse.

It could also be another piece of fuel for the fire to spur us on to greater heights. At any rate we handled it much calmer than we would have in the past. A reaction that I feel was the result of what we have been reading and thinking.