T-R-O-U-B-L-E

Sometimes I get really emotional over silly things, like batteries.

Wednesday morning I was rushing off to work, a few minutes behind schedule, naturally, half a bagel in my mouth and my overflowing bag slung over my shoulder. I was mentally going over everything I needed to get done that day, quite a few errands, an appointment that night, also people over for dinner, plus a licensing visit at work—basically, I had a lot on my mind. I quickly stashed my stuff in the passenger’s side, hopped in and started the car. Except that it didn’t start. It just made this weird clicking noise (think woodpecker) but the engine wouldn’t turn over. I just stared at the dashboard saying, “You have got to be kidding me!” over and over. I think I even punched the steering wheel a couple times. (Not good idea.)

I called my dad, and as soon as I heard his voice, the tears started brimming. If you were a bystander listening to just my side of the conversation you would have heard something like this, punctuated with heavy sniffles:

“Well, I don’t know, Daddy! . . . . Where is that? . . . .It just looks black. . . Black, like black metal? . . . On the what? . . . Where’s the battery? . . . . Yeah, it’s greenish . . . No, it clicks . . . But I have to go to work! I have to! . . . Okay.”

Dejectedly I walked back in the house, just as my roommate Karen was leaving. She says “Doin’ all right?”

And I just lose it.

“No!” I wail, “I have to go to work and my car won’t start and my dad says that I need to take it somewhere and I don’t know how to do that because it won’t even start and I just really don’t want to deal with this right now and I want to trade this car in but now they’re not going to take it because it doesn’t even run and my boss is going to be so irritated with me if I don’t get my bum there right now!”

Karen, not really knowing how to process my extreme run-on vortex of emotion, says, “So, do you want a ride to work, or what?”

I got to work (thanks, Karen!) and spent the next hour getting a hold on my very silly emotions.

Later that night, Mike was over and we tried jumping the battery, but it didn’t work and I was assuming the worst: well, I need a new engine.

Luckily, before I did anything rash like pushing car down hill into ditch, Brad came over and blessed us with a display of his automobile know-how and robust machismo. It was just the battery after all, and after a mere $73 at Checker, Brad got us all fixed up and ready to go.

Thank you so much, Brad and the nice lady at Checker for keeping the store open for us.

Crisis averted. Good thing nobody “overreacted.”