Losing power

Yesterday on my drive back from Shear Impressions (about 5 miles) I turned off the always busy Rt. 33 onto a neighborhood main street, and noticed at a slight curve that the steering wheel was stiff. I knew immediately that my power steering had failed--it had happened to me once before when my children were both small and in the car. It's a feeling of helplessness not forgotten. I struggled home (fortunately I work out at least 2 minutes a day and am very strong), rousted my husband out of his chair and we took off for the local Pro-Care that had the least dangerous route using both cars. Once there, we discovered that Pro-Care had gone bankrupt and we were facing an unfamiliar company name. (Lobby and phone number are the same, however.) The car, and our arms, could go no further (our son manages a quick serve much further northeast), so we had to go with them or be towed. The diagnosis is a small hole in one of the hoses, and the power steering fluid drained out. It will be close to $300, but that's minor compared to the accident I could have caused.

Power. Even when we think we have it and we are zipping along, we don't.