The Flower That Blooms in Adversity, Redux

"The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all." - from the Disney film Mulan.

It was not a good day. In fact, some rather bad things happened. But it could have been much, much worse. My husband drove me in to work and took my Mazda to go gas it up and run some errands.

He called me around mid-morning, from home, to give me the bad news: The rear passenger side strut, which had just been replaced, had somehow broken, and busted through near the speaker. The car was, once again, not drivable.

However, my husband had gotten my Mazda safely home and called the mechanic. The mechanic, Dave, told him the part was probably bad, and they arranged an appointment for next week. Dave will order the replacement part and fix it again next Wednesday.

We had talked about going swimming or going out to eat when my husband picked me up after work. He would bring in my new car, the 2017 Chevrolet Sonic, and pick me up and we would decide where to go from there.

When my husband arrived late in the day, however, the look on his face was grim. I assumed he was worried about the Mazda, but the news was worse than that: "The garage door is broken," he said. And then he went on to explain that he had opened the overhead garage door and pulled my new car out.

Just as he had finished pulling the car out of the garage, one of the big springs on the overhead door SNAPPED with a very loud and scary sound, and the garage door came smashing down! Had it happened even seconds earlier, my new car would have been ruined. (!!!!!!!!) Also, had anyone been standing NEAR the spring, they might have been very, very badly hurt.

We suddenly had no interest in eating out or going swimming. So we did the minimal - grabbed some hoagies and some milk and potato chips at the gas station in Port Matilda - then went home and parked the new car and surveyed the damages.

The current status, as of this writing, is this: the Mazda is broken down and cannot be driven. I am hopeful my husband can get it safely to its repair next Wednesday morning. The garage door is broken, but he managed to get it all the way down so that rodents couldn't come running in.

The garage door can't go up OR down, so my husband's car (a Chevrolet Geo) is trapped INside.  My new car is trapped OUTside, apparently our only drivable car at this point! It's quite a state of affairs!

And so on this evening, I walked around the driveway, and took pictures of my two cars together (which was kinda cool, actually). And I spotted a beautiful pink flower blooming in a plant pot by the front hedge: a lovely gerbera daisy. "You should have seen it when the sun was on it this morning," my husband said, as I took this photo in evening light.

And I thought about the day. And I thought about adversity. I wasn't happy with what had happened, but it could have been so much worse. The Mazda could have broken down and wrecked, with either my husband, or me, or both, in it.

What are the odds that my husband would be driving my Mazda BOTH times it broke down? Slim to none, I'd say! And the garage door could have hurt him, or me, or both of us, or the two cars nearest it (including, God forbid, my NEW car), when it broke. But it didn't. The situation is not ideal, and it doesn't always feel like it at the time, but we know it now: we were the lucky ones.

The soundtrack: Loverboy, the Lucky Ones.

P.S. As of this writing, a garage door repairman is on the way. Help may, indeed, be coming. Also of note: if you own a house, keep that checkbook handy, as you never know WHAT unexpected expense you might need to fund next! ;-)

P.P.S. The original blip with this same title told a much more upsetting tale indeed. For the health and welfare of those you love is much, MUCH more important than any car, any garage door, more than anything at all.