Yesterday was my first day returning to work after a wonderful trip to visit friends in Denver. I felt refreshed and ready to take on the stack of emails and meetings I knew were waiting for me, and was even ready to leave the house earlier than normal. I kissed Husband goodbye and made my way downstairs to our parking garage, where despite repeatedly pressing the Unlock button on my key fob I couldn’t get my car to unlock. Unfazed, I returned to our condo and got the spare set of keys, certain that the battery in my regular fob had died and I’d soon be on my way.
Back in the garage, the second set of keys wouldn’t unlock the door automatically either. For some reason, putting the key directly into the door lock tends to set off the panic alarm, so I hate doing it, but I was out of other options. The good news is that when I manually unlocked my door, no alarms went off to deafen all of my neighbors at7am, but the bad news was that I quickly realized it was my battery and not my key fob that was dead. And we’re talking REAL dead here, probably the deadest dead battery I’ve ever encountered in all the years I’ve been driving cars.
Husband tried to jump-start my car for a good half hour, but the battery was just too far gone. Eventually, I assured him that he should get on the road and go to work, and that I’d work from home while waiting for AAA to show up and revive my car. He reluctantly agreed, hesitant to potentially strand me despite my promising that I would be fine.
Upstairs, I got to work, quickly sending a note to my boss about the situation and promising to be in the office just as soon as I was able to be. AAA showed up about an hour and a half later, and got the car running in no time.
Having a dead car battery is definitely annoying, but this morning left me feeling far more grateful than irritated. For one thing, I realize how lucky I am that I can afford a reliable car that I honestly just assume will always start and function properly. I recognize that there are many people who get anxiety every time they turn the key in their ignition because they have no guarantee that their car will actually start on any given day. I’m also super fortunate to have my husband, who loves me and tries without complaint to start my car after I’ve killed my battery by leaving my dome light on for five days straight while we were out of town. He never once grumbled about the situation or got even the slightest bit cranky at me, even though it was all my own fault for being careless and I am well aware of that. Had I asked him, he would have even gone completely out of his way to take me to work and then retrieved me at the end of the day, because that’s just the kind of guy he is. And that leads me to another thing I’m grateful for – I didn’t have to scramble around in a panic and figure out how to get to the office, potentially inconveniencing other people. My company is so flexible and my boss is understanding and kind, and it’s so nice to work in an environment where it’s understood that things do come up. I’ve had jobs before where being late would have resulted in potential discipline, no matter what my reasons.
Life may not always go completely smoothly and there will inevitably be bumps along the road, but I believe that we can focus on the bad things or we can find good in them and move on. Today reminded me that even the things that do go wrong in my life are so minor and so easy to overcome, and I am so very lucky. Things are the best they’ve ever been for me and I know what it’s like to struggle, and I also know that things can change and that there’s no guarantee that I’ll always be this fortunate. I know this, and think of it daily, and I am so appreciative of all that I have.