Gasoline, Palmolive, and My No-Good Very-Bad Day

Today felt like one of those Seinfeld episodes where piles of crap happen for the oddest of reasons. Last night I began to smell gasoline in my house and became very confused. After no small amount of investigation (because I’m such a skilled sleuth at this sort of thing!), I discovered that the culprit was most likely the car parked in the garage. I deduced that it was leaking gasoline and decided to park it outside on the driveway. The house smelled so bad that I opened all of the windows (it was 40-something degrees outside) and kept them open (as well as the door to the garage) all night.  I buried myself under multiple blankets and slept what amounted to approximately two hours. I then drove my potential deathtrap to a 2 ½ hour work meeting, drove it back home, and called a friend over to help me. We washed out the garage with water and Palmolive, and, again, left the doors and windows open to continue airing out. I then called AAA for a tow truck to have my vehicle towed into the local dealership for repair (still waiting to hear the price tag for all of that!). During my phone call, AAA began to share with me the news that I evidently forgot to renew my membership for the year. As I stood in my garage, phone in hand, pleading my case and organizing the towing of my only vehicle, a neighbor walked by and was nice enough to remind me that it was against neighborhood association policy to leave a garage door open for an extended period of time. In hindsight, it is most likely at this point that my coping skills had met their match.    

Approximately 90 minutes later, I watched with an odd measure of relief as my vehicle was towed away. At that point, I decided to exercise some independence and attempt to gain a modicum of control over my day… by figuring out the city transit system. My goal was to get to work without depending on anyone for a ride. I wanted to handle this on my own.  Accomplishment of this goal would bring some productivity to the day. It was going to be my saving grace.  (Note to self: When all else is failing on any given day, do not attempt to take control. Hide in a corner and wait it out.) 

I walked ½ mile in the wind and rain and sat down alone on a cold wet bus-stop seat for 40 minutes as TWO number 68 buses drove past without stopping. Mr. Cellophane could have been my name! For those that know me well, you can rest assured that, prior to walking to the bus stop, I exercised my usual obsessive-compulsive tendencies in preparing for this little adventure. I called two friends who I knew had experience in riding the local system. I had them explain in detail (excruciating detail to them!) exactly the process for riding a city bus.  I also went online, studied the routes and timetables and knew precisely when the buses were to arrive. To their credit, they were very prompt each time they passed me by. The first bus passed me at exactly 4:28PM. The second bus poured salt on my wet wounds at its scheduled time of 4:58PM.

I walked home.  In the rain.  In the cold cold rain.

By this time it’s approaching 5:30PM and I arrive back home, wet, and transportation-less, and get a text from one of the teenagers at the youth center that I run alerting me to the fact that there were youth there with no adults anywhere to be found. Evidently everyone assumed I was there with them and none of my email and voicemail to the secretary had been received (I did not know she left that morning for a doctor’s appointment). The text message read: “We’re at the center. No adults around. We’re eating chips.” I've no idea how they actually got inside the youth center, but, they did. With eight full hours of sleep, I would not have handled this day well. With two hours of sleep and a headache most likely from fume inhalation, I was beside myself. I finally reached one of the local parental units on the phone and she drove to the church to look after things. Please keep in mind that the temperature is falling back into the low 40s, the windows are still wide open in my house, the scent of Palmolive and gasoline lightly lingers, and I’m trying to solve all of this in wet clothing.

7:48PM

The windows are closed. The heat is on. I’m wearing dry clothes. I’ve eaten dinner. I’ve been writing for about fifteen minutes. In the comfort and quiet, my mind is now beginning to recognize some of the details of the day that I’ve neglected to share.

The work meeting that I had this morning was between me and another local youth leader and concerned a youth retreat coming up. We have more kids participating than we had anticipated; thus, the need for additional planning. Everything is coming together quite nicely. We are also two different denominations working together; which I think is amazing.

When I shared my dilemma this morning with a friend, he dropped everything he was doing and, during lunch time, picked up supplies and came straight to the house to help me wash out the garage. He asked for nothing in return.

The AAA agent, after I explained myself, understood the situation and allowed me to reestablish my account and the towing was absorbed as a part of my new enrollment.

When I called friends to help me understand the bus system, they patiently explained it to me. They overlooked my need/obsession for detail and they took the time to talk me through it. 

The Youth that have grown so close to each other over the last three years were perfectly content just sitting around with no events taking place…just…eating chips. When I called the parent and asked her to go over to the church and take care of closing everything down, she understood the situation and was happy to help. 

The stench of the day has subsided; much of this due to the same cold rain now washing away any remnant of its cause. And for the first time in not just one day, but weeks, I feel at peace.

I feel at peace.

Of course, tomorrow I’ll get the damn repair bill. 

I continue to be,

Jamie