Being Flexible

The universe is trying to teach me something.
I'm guess I'm slow to get the lesson, though, as is evident by the recurring nature of things which have happened the past two weeks.

During this time, despite any resolve I may have had to not let anything bother me, several unfortunate events have demanded my attention and flexibility.

The first was things broken on the car.  Not my newer car, it behaved perfectly fine.  One of our older cars decided to get sick.  Son #1 needed the car to get to/from a new job so things had to be addressed right away.  Fortunately the repairs were only a couple hundred dollars, but still ... I'd rather get several pedicures with a leg massage for that money!  And then go out to lunch!
This car is going back for some more work (and presumably more hundreds $$) tomorrow afternoon.  There are some regular maintenance things which need to be attended to before we have a catastrophe.

The second thing happened on the same day as the car trouble ... the washing machine overflowed and flooded part of the basement. It was a big mess, I tell you.  The actual culprit turned out to be a clogged drain about 15 feet down the line and not the washing machine itself, but still not a DIY correction so I had to summon a plumber.  Three hours and $253 later and that mess was remedied.  Not the way I had planned to spend the day, however.  (Universe thought I didn't have enough things on my to-do list and needed some crises to manage!)

Son #2 used to say, when he was about 4 years old, "That's not on my schedule" whenever he was asked to do something he didn't want to do -- it's become something funny we all say now when these types of things happen.  You know, like a family joke.  I must laugh or else I'd probably cry right about now.

Since things happen in three's, there is something else testing my ability to adapt and be flexible.  AT&T has decided that broken cell towers are a lower priority than, well, whatever else it is they are working on while they take my money each month.  Apparently the cell tower closest to my house isn't behaving nicely and won't allow me to place or receive phone calls while I'm at home.  My phone works fine everyplace else.  Just not where I need it most.  They said they'll get it fixed by October 6th.  Um, hello!  That's 5 days from now!

So, being as flexible as possible, I've come up with other creative ways to keep in touch with son #2's school, should they need to call me during this time.  But it is still rather a nuisance that the phone I pay a lot of money for cannot operate as a phone at the moment.  And hasn't been for the past couple days.
I want my money back!

So, if you need me ... text, email or Skype might work until they get things fixed.