Because Life Can Never Be Easy...

After a wonderful trip to Michigan to visit family and spend some time at the family cottage, we headed home.  Recently we've been doing something that might be counterintuitive.  We haven't been going on trips and getting home Sunday after 12 hours of driving to get up and ready to go to work about 7 hours later.  We have been getting home Saturday night and spending Sunday putting away stuff, reading through mail and having a little time to just get mentally ready to be back from vacation.  Sometimes no matter how great a vacation is everyone needs a vacation from a vacation.

So we got home Saturday night and my husband came in with a puzzled look and he said, "Because Life Can Never Be Easy."  I hesitated to ask for explanation, but I knew it was coming.  "Both of our remote controls to the Subaru aren't working."

Well.... After living in the temperature extremes of Michigan and Arizona, I knew the problem was likely not the little key fobs.  "Go try to start the car," I told him.  He came back even more puzzled.  "Nothing."  "The battery is dead", I told him.  This was after about an 11 hour drive and we were hungry for dinner.  "Well, I'm not calling AAA now, we can deal with it tomorrow," was my response as my stomach gurgled.

We had had a hot week, but the car was only two years old.  I was betting on the 6 year old.  I was praying that the battery wasn't gone for good and it was just the matter of a 6 year old bopping the light on when it was broad daylight so it wasn't easy for me to see and it was left on for over a week.

We ate food.  I realized my parents had given us something to jumpstart a car at one Christmas or another.  My husband realized his parents gave him something that didn't require us to put two cars together, an easy starter.  It's amazing how a little food and rest can actually give you ideas!

The next day, after Mass, we went to try to start the car.  It worked.  I was never so happy to randomly drive around on the expressway after a long trip the previous day.  It appeared that my hypothesis of the 6 year old was correct.  As soon as the car had battery power, the rear seat light lit up.  The relief.

Two lessons from this experience- always give yourself an extra day and always check the interior lights, even in daylight before a long trip.