I started the first leg of my trip to Nashville tonight. I made it as far as Concord, and as I drove by a compact car with a license plate starting in 217, I said to myself, “Universe, I need a sign! Show me I’m doing the right thing!”
About sixty seconds later I was on the side of the road with a flat tire and a real interest in what exactly the Universe was planning for me. The interesting part was the calm that settled over me almost as soon as it was clear that the car needed to be pulled off the road. In fact, it was the smoothest car issue I could imagine.
Blow by blow details: the car went off the road, someone pulled over with me, we all had a chin stroking “Hmm, that’s a flat tire” observation session for a moment, and then they left me to call AAA. Shortly after that a trooper pulled in to make sure I had help coming, AAA showed up within 15 minutes, my tow truck driver John was a gem in workman’s clothing, and within a half hour from when the tire first went, I was on the road with my little donut wheel, using my GPS (her name is Karen) to avoid highways and stay under 50mph on the way home.
It’s that damned calm feeling that’s nagging me. This has thrown my entire schedule off track, and yet I’m not only completely fine and relaxed, I’m super happy. It leads me to believe that there must have been something really nasty up the road waiting for me, and I conveniently ended up with a unusually enjoyable flat tire experience. While I usually receive fairly quick responses to my requests with the Universe, I’ve never had such an immediate and clearly understandable reply.
Tomorrow I have to go to the local AAA and renew my card, go to Volvo and ask ever-so-nicely if they could please fix this issue for me with a brandy-new tire (as I’ve literally had the car for eight days), and get on the road. Interestingly enough, now that I’m so far behind schedule I won’t be able to stop in Albany until the drive home from Nashville, which makes me wonder if I was ever supposed to arrive in the first place. The original plan was to get in earlier in the day, hang with Hot Melissa for a little while, stop by T.’s to hit the hay, and then on the road bright and early.
The bigger reason I wonder if I was meant to go to Albany is in addition to the whole tire incident, Hot Melissa called last night during my open mike to tell me that Matt’s grandfather had passed away and she wouldn’t be able to see me, so not to rush out on her behalf. Between those two things, my feeling of peaceful calm, and my unbelievable dawdling the entire day (“Hey, I’m about to embark on the trip of a lifetime! But first, let me sit down and watch two hours of Medium off the TiVo.” That’s just not normal for me), I think that when the Universe speaks, who am I not to listen?
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