Luck is all in the way you spin a tale. Speaking of tales, I have one to spin with you this morning. I can only see the good in the way this sequence of events played out. What do you see?
I was on the last lap of my drive home from work a few nights ago when a whiff of antifreeze scent, quickly followed by steam coming out from under my hood happened moments before the light turned green.
I couldn't abandon the car in an intersection so I drove onward.
Dad's words came to me immediately. "If your car ever overheats, turn the heat and the fan up to high [he probably said to pull over immediately but I ignored that part] and when you stop, do NOT open the radiator cap until it has cooled down."
I did exactly what Dad told me (minus the part about pulling over immediately). I was a few blocks away from our neighborhood garage, no lights came on (I am now wondering why not?!) so I pulled into a parking spot there and called them in the morning.
The diagnosis has been made. The water pump went (he assured me this is something you can rarely see coming), the car overheated so now the radiator cap is not holding pressure, antifreeze went all over the place so a new belt is required and the check engine light indicated an "oxygen sensor code" error. For a mere $844.75, I will be back on the road later today. "Well, that's cheaper than a new car!" was my response. "Maybe I should splurge on a new windshield after all? [I have a stone chip that needs to be tended and the entire windshield is pitted]"
This unexpected expense is coming at the tail end of my renovation spending which sadly went several thousands of dollars over my ability to pay. As I stretched my budget to the max I was concerned about the fact that I had no leeway left in my savings and budgeting to allow for anything unexpected. "What if something happens to my car?" I lamented.
The unexpected happened. But it could have been so very much worse.
- I broke down at the END of my day
- It gave me a "remembering Dad" moment (always a gift)
- I was able to make it to the garage - no tow truck cost was necessary
- The car is repairable. Though the breakdown was rather large on the scale of things, I didn't have to weigh the option of "replace" over "repair"
- I was close to home! Just a few days prior, we were driving down country roads which would have resulted in a completely different scenario
- I can afford this! Even though I don't have any expendable cash at the moment, I can make this work (I will just have to borrow a little more from my son's University Savings in order to do so)
- I was able to keep driving and was not stranded in any way, shape or form
- I was able to borrow my son's car while mine was down for repairs. Thankfully it was available as long as I needed with little expense besides topping up the gas tank and power steering fluid
- I handled this myself. I seem to have my middle son on speed dial when it comes to dealing with minor emergencies but I DIDN'T call him. This shouldn't feel as big as it does but I feel empowered knowing I didn't need anyone's assistance except my friendly neighborhood mechanic
See how an unfortunate set of events became all about feeling incredibly lucky that things turned out exactly the way they did? It's all in the way you spin your story. You can feel fortunate things didn't turn out worse or you can focus on all that went wrong. I choose to feel fortunate. I truly believe this to be true.
Now ... I just have to spin a tale to figure out a way to see my newly stained deck in a manner that doesn't look so "green". Unbeknownst to me at the time, I was sold the wrong product and SHOULD have had the stain for pressure treated wood to alleviate the green tones. Now all I see is GREEN. I can hear Kermit the Frog singing "It isn't easy being green..."
"But if green is all there is to be
It could make you wonder why, but why wonder, why wonder
I'm green and it'll do fine
And it's beautiful and I think it's what I want to be."
Songwriters: RAPOSO JOSEPH G
No comments:
Post a Comment