I’m sorry – yesterday I mistakenly informed you all that my rental car had been stolen. Well, the reality is, if I had kept walking another 2 blocks, I would have found my vehicle - right where I had parked it! Oh, to have had a picture of my facial expression as I drove passed the car this morning, rubber-necking, if you will, to see if my eyes were deceiving me. Could that be the Chrysler Pacifica I had driven only yesterday? The license plate number looked familiar, but I was off to a meeting a did not have time to verify that the car was indeed my former rental car.
After parking in the garage today (LOL), I had my meeting and then made the trek back to where I had seen the Pacifica. Low and behold, as I looked in the back windows, sure enough my gear was laying there, still in the vehicle. I made the necessary calls to the police, insurance agent, my boss, and the rental car company. Now I'm just waiting for the tow truck to arrive. In fact, here he comes. Ace towing!
You gotta love wireless network cards! I am sitting here, drenched in sweat, logged into my AT&T account, sitting under a shade tree in front of someone's apartment complex, writing this blog, checking my emails, and surfing the web. The neighbors, I guess, are staring to look at me a little suspiciously. Maybe they are thinking I locked my keys in the car. I suspect it sounds something like, "Who's the moron sitting in my front lawn, wearing a suit in this this 90 degree heat, and working on his laptop?"
All is well though. Nothing hurt but my pride. Actually, I have a more humiliating experience to share with you, but I'll have to save it for another day. Perhaps my dad will tell you his side of that story, from long ago. It's funnier than this story. Although this one is pretty hard to beat.
Wow! This is a great illustration as to what NOT to do when visiting a hospital on a sales call.
That’s ok, you can laugh – I did. And I think I heard Him laugh too.
1 comment:
Jeff-
First off, props for good writing... you certainly make your readers feel like they are right there with you. This is a great story... it made me laugh for sure. What I really enjoyed is your reaction to the whole situation- not losing your cool and your ability to laugh at the whole escapade afterwards. Even your blog title, "Dude, Where's My Car" made me think back to the dreadfully dumb Ashton Kutcher film from years ago.
It is so funny how dealing with material things seems so inconsequential once you realize that dealing with people is what's really important. Your reaction mirrored my reaction to the basement flooding, particularly the second time. The whole saga of "our cursed basement" like the lost car, is comedic when you think about it in the right context. I'm not saying that unfortunate snafus like these don't produce unneeded stress and aggravation (I'm still dealing with some of that with the detail paperwork myself, too), but at the same time, I take a great deal of pride for not acting like Steve Martin did when he lost his car in the movie "Plains Trains and Automobiles," and rather, being able to laugh a bit at the whole comedic nature of life at times. When I say my prayers, do we ever pray for the car, or the carpet in the basement, or the warped entertainment center? Of course not- they are inanimate objects! We pray for people and it is people who count.
Thanks for sharing your story- I agree there are so many similarities between our two families!
Cheers,
Will
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