Thursday, November 5, 2009

A Convenient Inconvenience.

I have never locked my keys in the car. Knock wood rightnow, eh?

I have never locked my keys in my car... before yesterday.

I have great excuses! I do! I was at the mechanic and my new car has one key to unlock and another for the ignition. I jumped in with car with a friend, tossed down the unlocker and used the other in the ignition. Off we went.

I know, I know, shoulda just put 'em back on the key ring immediately. But what if I broke a nail? (That's so me, right, worried about nails? No, I was just focused on getting the errand done as soon as possible.)

Shut the car door (at Costco) and walked toward the doors, thinking immediately, hmmm. Where's that pesky unlocking key? Looked, looked, looked some more, ignoring the distant memory of tossing in the change dish, and then remembered that for two years, we've had AAA and I've never used it. Called, chatted with a very friendly dispatcher, did my shopping, got the automated "We are 5 Minutes Away" call, met the truck at the front door of Costco, unlocked it, and went on my merry way.

They say there is no such thing as luck. That "luck" is merely being prepared for the opportunity you want. I love this idea, because it means career and creative-life advances don't bump you on the head. (Glen Hansard... an overnight success 20 years in the making.) Someone might offer you a teaching gig, a book deal, a photo shoot for a catalog... but if you haven't gotten your degree, written that novel or kept your body in shape, then the opportunity won't matter.

So I feel this experience - - - could have been a $100 mistake and giant pain in the ass, but ended up taking about six minutes out of my day and not a dime outside of our yearly AAA investment - - - is a great corollary to the idea that there is no luck. Because it means there is no bad luck, either. I knew, despite all that knocking-on-wood, that I would someday lock my keys in the car. Having planned a day to exist with a AAA card and 45 minutes to kill inside Costco meant it I just had quite possibly the most convenient inconvenience ever. And luck's got nothing to do with it.

2 comments:

  1. WHAT?!?! They are no longer together?!?!

    Also, yay AAA. I do not have it. I do however now 2 wks after paying $50 to get my keys out of my car, have a spare.

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  2. More people I don't understand: auto manufacturers. I've never locked my keys in my car, not because I'm more mindful than other people, but simply because it's not possible. The driver's door on '90 Volvos cannot be locked unless the door is closed. The thing just doesn't go down when the car door is open. So either you're inside the car, or you have the key because you use the key to lock the car. To lock your keys in, you'd have to lock the driver's side door from inside the car with the door closed, and then leave by some other door, locking it manually as you exit. Not gonna happen.

    Why aren't all cars designed this way?

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