I knew that when I chose a word like "gratitude" for my 2015 One Word resolution, I would be challenged. All new year's resolutions get challenged eventually, we know this to be fact (that's why we tend to break them!). And with how near and dear this word is to my heart for this year, I figured there were going to be some tough moments over the next 360 days.
And yet, somehow, I didn't expect to be tested before I even got to work today, my first day back for the new year. But there I was. It was 9:30 a.m. this morning, a Monday. It was approximately 21* Fahrenheit outside, and all four doors on my car were frozen shut.
I have to pause the story here to say, I drive a 1999 Honda CR-V. She is a beautiful and special car named Lady Luck, and because she is a bit of a senior citizen, her locks have been known to freeze a time or two before. It's cold in Indiana. It snows occasionally. I do not panic. Normally, my plan of attack is thus:
1. Open the back hatch of my car.
2. Climb into the very back luggage area of my car and then clamber over the backseat and thence into the driver's seat.
3. Pray no one thinks I'm breaking into a random stranger's car to steal it.
4. Start the car, turn the heat on full blast.
5. Play with the (manual) locks a few times, hoping they budge.
6. When they don't, exit the car the same way (while repeating step 3) and go inside to finish getting ready for the day.
7. When I'm ready to depart, climb back in through the very back hatch (again, step 3 is key here) and try the locks again.
At this point, normally one of my backseat passenger doors has unfrozen, so I can close the back hatch and climb in through the back passenger door like a (more) normal person, and then wend my way to campus. Once I've made it to campus, the front driver or passenger door has usually thawed, so I can go about my day as usual.
Today, Lady Luck was just. not. having. it.
I waited for a solid 20 minutes while the heat blasted, while I prayed and jiggled the locks and kicked the doors and wiggled the handles and... nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. The clock ticked closer to 9:30 a.m., and I had to face facts - those doors were not. going. to. open.
Twelve hours later, this story is pretty funny. Heck, an hour after it happened this story was funny. But in the moment, I wanted to weep. I wanted to give up, call somebody, pull out a hair dryer and an extension cord (don't think I didn't think about it, I sure did), go to town on my poor mostly-reliable-but-sometimes-decrepit car.
Instead, I paused. I took a deep, frigid breath. I said to myself, "Gratitude." I sent up a little prayer of thankfulness. And I climbed back in my car, turned it off, climbed back out (yep, got my workout in for the day), closed the back hatch, and decided to take the bus.
And you know what? I noticed the sun shining, and how markedly different (friendly, even) frigid winter days seem when the sun shines. I noticed the birds singing, and how particularly beautiful they sounded over the quiet morning air. I pulled up the IU Mobile app, and was infinitely thankful for the genius who came up with live bus tracking. I walked 200 feet from my front door to a bus stop that is free for me to use as an IU employee and whose bus routes spread all throughout campus and town. And when I caught the bus 5 minutes later (a little chilled, I'll admit) I rode in a warm vehicle just 20 minutes right to the front door of the building where I work.
And when I got home this evening (driven by my wonderful grad student), my front driver's side door unlocked and opened up right away.
I guess at the end of it all, I have a lot to be grateful for.
I wonder how I'll exercise my gratitude tomorrow?
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