It Can Always Be Worse

Well folks what happened last weekend wasn't  my typical "ahh come on" moment, but more of an "ahh ha, Lord I'm listening."  Here's my story...

My car has been good to me. I've had it for 10 years and recently had to spend more than $600 on repairs. I am one of those frugal people who would prefer to ride the car until the wheels fall off. But this time, I caved and said to my husband that we should go to a dealership to see what they would be willing to offer on a new car. With the "Cash for Clunkers" deal, I was hopeful.

I walked in the dealership with my "I am not, I may and I certainly wont" 's all in tact. I was not going to lease a car because I drive approximately 50 miles per day (total, to and from) work. I was not going to pay a lot per month, but I was willing to consider about 50 bucks more than I wanted to pay. Those were my rules and final offers. (LOL)

All and all, we went to the dealership and LEFT after having decided that it would probably be cheaper to get the repairs and consider a car loan next year.

I haven't had a car payment in more than five years, so I was not going down willingly. Plus, with cutbacks at work, decreased hours (to avoid layoffs) - it just didn't seem like a good time to buy a car. So like I said - we left.

My husband and I sat at a red light COMPLAINING ABOUT EVERYTHING! From the car to work to politics to wanting more out of life...and on, and on, and on - we just COMPLAINED!

While in our silo of complaints, ironically, we sat patiently at a red light waiting to make a left turn. We made ourselves useful and complained more. [smile]

The light turned green. We sat there for about five to 10 seconds. Before my husband hit the accelerator, a pick-up truck came barreling through the red light of the cross street. We had no clue the truck was coming and would have just pulled into the street to make a left turn. The truck was going at least 50mph and would have slammed - right -  into - us.

My husband and I played out how horrible that situation could have been. There was a young family also about to walk across the street.

Here we were complaining about having to make repairs on a 10-year-old car that technically needed a tweak or two. Paying car repairs is nothing compared to the financial strain of medical bills or more importantly, the loss of life.

We humbly accepted our lesson and noted, "It can always be worse."

Mickey