i never have really appreciated the value of a junk or wrecking yard — until yesterday.

in fact i thought they were eyesores.  i was not quite clear on why they existed.  maybe, i thought to myself, cars and trucks just need a burial ground.  i never really thought of the junk or wrecking yard as having a purpose, much less a valuable role to play in our lives.

with this backdrop let me explain how i came into contact with a junk yard yesterday.

the night before last I, along with my great friend Clip Kniffin, played 9 holes of golf at the Fosters Golf Club, a public course in Tukwila, Washington.  we finished at dusk, just before 8pm pacific time.  i said to Clip, do you want to get a bite to eat in the restaurant in the clubhouse?   he said yes, indeed.  i told him that i was going to drop my golf bag and clubs off in my car and that i would meet him in the cafe.  i placed the golf bag in the rear of my Jeep Liberty, locked the car and proceeded into the cafe.

when i returned to my car after some fish and chips, around 8:45, i was shocked to find glass all over the pavement.  i quickly looked up at my car to see that the rear two windows on the driver’s side were smashed, broken and missing.  glass was everywhere inside and and outside the vehicle.  someone had broken into my car while we were having a bite to eat.

how could this happen?  i am parked in a golf club parking lot!  i am parked within 25 steps of the front door of the golf club.  there are lights in the parking lot.  there are other cars still in the parking lot.  how can this happen, i ask myself.

i look inside my car and immediately see that they have stolen my golf bag and clubs.  oh my goodness!

i call the  police; they show up and file a report.  i drive my car home, remove everything that i have in the car, and pray that no one will steal my car that is parked overnight on the street with two windows missing.

next morning, bright and early i get on the internet and the phone trying to find an auto glass repair shop that can replace my two busted windows.  i call several and i get the same response from all of them.  they say that they have one window in stock and can do the replacement.  however, they say, the other window — the rear left quarter window, the one in the far back — is not in stock and not available anywhere.  in fact, some of them call the manufacturer and are told that they don’t even make the window anymore.

holy cow!  why???   apparently because my car is soooooo old.  my Jeep Liberty is 14 years old, and it has almost 200,000 miles on it.  but i love it.  it works for me.

so i ask, what do i do if the window is not available anywhere?  the auto glass shops tell me to reach out to junk yards and wrecking yards and see if they have any 2007 Jeep Liberty vehicles in their yard with windows that i could remove and put into my car.

now i know why junk yards exist.  let’s pray that i can find one that has my car in it, i say to myself.

i find on the internet five wrecking yards within 100 miles of Seattle, and i start calling them.   i quickly learn how the wrecking yards work.  they are able to tell me immediately whether they have a 2007 Jeep Liberty in their yard, but they will not go look at the car to determine whether it has its windows and whether they are tinted, which mine are.  they inform me that i have to come and do that.  then, in addition i have to hire someone to come and remove the window from the car in the junk yard.

the good news is that i found one yard, some 50 miles from Seattle, that had a 2007 Jeep Liberty in the yard.  the wrecking yard tells me about a business near by that will remove windows from cars.  i call them and they will go to the yard, determine if the vehicle on site has the window i am looking for, and, if so, they will remove it.   then i can drive to them to pick it up.   and, of course, i can pay them for this effort.

bottom line, they found the window i was looking for, but it was not tinted.  they removed it anyway, and i did not say a thing.  i was happy to find a window, period.

i drive an hour to pick up the window that has come from the junk yard, and then i take it to auto glass shop in Seattle who along with the other window replaces them in my car.  i am good to go.  two new windows.  yes, one is not tinted, but heck, at least i have windows installed all around my car.

what did i learn from this episode in life?   one, keep your golf clubs close to you at all times.  two, the value of a junk yard or wrecking yard.