muddy gestures

Last night, as I left my office and walked out to the parking lot, I noticed in the growing dark that my car seemed...tilty.

Hello, Flat Tire At The End Of A Long Day.

I used to have this awesome (and insanely affordable) AAA-like coverage through my cel provider...but they were losing money on it, so they pulled the plug. Since then, I've been AAA-free. Which meant, I'd be changing that spare thank you, very much.

Lucky for me, a co-worker was also working a bit late. I figured it would be easier to deal with the flat in the burning light of day (versus the cold and dark of night), so I finagled a ride to the Cumberland stop on the Blue Line. A couple stops down is Jefferson Park, where I caught the bus and was home by 7:40pm.


My 70 year old father would not hear of my plans to change the spare. Even though I have changed multiple spares in my day. By myself, thank you. He drove over to my office around 11am this morning and met me in the lot.

I honestly think it took longer to empty out my trunk to get to the spare...than the actual "changing" of the spare. Mi Dios. My pack-rat traits are astonishing to behold. Perhaps later, when I "repack" the trunk, I'll make a list of everything that was in there. Oof. It was like my trunk threw an ambush intervention to expose my addiction to the world. Or at least, my father. Erg.

Well, 70 year old Pop quickly realised that the equation of: his knees + hard asphalt x cranking the jack/loosening lug nuts = not gunna happen.

Which is how I ended up covered in muck while trying to position the jack. (Yes. My bad for not bringing something to change into...against my better judgement, I know, I know, I know.)

Bingo Bango, Spare is on the Car.

I'll have my tire fixed after work (nail/rivet was the culprit.)


When everything was put away and as I prepared to head back into work, my father told me he had brought a few things to give me.

Chalk it up to that parent DNA that you must send your child out into the world with, at the very least, a bag lunch. I received:

3 containers of Frozen Soup (homemade!)
1 head of iceberg lettuce
2 cans of Barq's Diet Root Beer
1/2 a loaf of French Bread

...and a small bunch of white daisies.


"I figured you could use 'em."



I know there are a lot of folks out there right now who have much bigger woes on their plate - unemployeed, stressed, worried about their kids, how to pay for college, how to pay the rent...and so on.

In the big scheme of things, a flat isn't that big a deal.
It's the teeniest of fleas in the ointment.

I guess, I just want to say, that if you're reading this...and you get "muddy" today? I hope somebody turns around and hands you "daisies."

It's usually the smallest of gestures that give us the resolve to keep on keepin' on.

Word.