The Problem

It's not that things go wrong, it's how you handle things when they go wrong.

I had my fleece jammies on last night when Gary called.  He was supposed to be at a meeting in Appleton, but instead had a problem.  He had a flat tire.

Just change the tire, you might think, but it wasn't that simple.  Gary has a big van with big tires.  There was no way he could jack up the three ton vehicle and even if he did, there was no place where he could get the tire fixed at that hour.  Would I come and pick him up?

Sure thing. I changed back to street clothes and drove into Appleton to retrieve my old guy.  It's a half hour drive, and I had to watch for deer but that's what you do for someone you love.

He had the luck to break down in a building supply company parking lot.  He got the OK to leave the van there overnight.

This morning, Gary dug out his generator and asked a friend with a power jack to help out.  We met Ken at the lot and that was when I got a really good look at the problem.

I left the two men to work on it and went off walking around the store and parking lot.  For the past two days, I had been stuck inside because of the weather so I wanted to get some exercise.  I circled the story over and over until finally Gary came into the store to tell me all was well.  The tire was fixed and we all could go home.

When I came back I spent forty minutes in the swimming pool and topped that by walking Atom around town. By the end of the day, I felt I was finally back in the swing of things, starting with that long walk at the store.