What a.....day.

It's all about perspective. Yesterday, Alex and I were en route to a meeting with my Patsy Cline collaborator to discuss getting the show produced, anywhere, anytime. I love this show and want desperately to have many chances to perform it again, so this meeting was an important and exciting step in getting the ball rolling. And then I got a flat tire. No way could we make it to the meeting. I was pretty upset. This was my first flat tire experience, and it happened at a terrifically inconvenient time. So, there we were, pulled into a parking lot off of highway 99, me grumbling about the unfairness of it all as Alex talked through our story to AAA. While he was using my phone to call them, his phone rang and he handed it to me. I answered, "Alex's phone" without looking to see who was calling, then went on to tell the caller that Alex was in the middle of talking to AAA because we were stranded in a parking lot with a flat and woe woe woe is me was the basic message from my end. I heard a faint reply, "I'm sorry about that, just have him give me a call at his convenience." And that was when I recognized the voice. "Is this Max?" Yes, it was, and I apologized to him for not knowing who I was speaking to, then asked how he was doing. "Oh, I've been better." And I stopped. Because I knew what Max had been dealing with for some days now, a sick parent many miles away. "How is your dad, Max?" I asked. "Well, he passed away a few hours ago." Oh. Oh. OH! "I'm so sorry, Max," I said, and we spoke for a bit, as he told me that his father lived a full life, was married 54 years, that his death wasn't unexpected. You know, the talk of a man in mourning but trying his best to be brave. But there was no denying the pain in his voice. He just lost his father. And all I had was a flat tire. We got a flat tire on one of those rare sunny November days in Seattle. There happened to be a security guard in the parking lot that we pulled into, and his last job was at a tire store. He happened to be an expert tire changer. He helped us figure out not only that we had a donut (I had no clue) but also where to find the mini-jack that would allow us to access the donut (who knew there were so many nifty tools in my PT Cruiser?). He then changed our tire for us, in a matter of 10 minutes. He said he always feels bad for people who blow a tire on the road, so he keeps tire-changing tools in his car, along with flashers and traffic cones, and he truly enjoys being able to help people who are in a scary situation, like being stranded on the side of a highway. He said he would be happy to help us, he didn't need any money. His name is Adam, and he is awesome. In short, we got a flat tire in the most ideal location ever, with a happy-to-help, tire-changing guru at our disposal, on a sunny day in Seattle. I spent most of yesterday feeling incredibly fortunate. Yeah, I had a flat (which has since turned into a need for a new alternator) and missed an important meeting. But the flat got fixed, the meeting got rescheduled, and my family is alive and well. There are so many moments in Life that can knock us down, but when we put it into perspective, we're still pretty freaking lucky. Don't you think?