Editorial by Dawn Burleigh

 

No one ever promised me a rose garden, which is a good thing since I despise red roses.

I knew from a young age, life is not fair.

I also knew early in life some days are just better left forgotten.

Tuesday was one of those days.

First, I could not put in my contacts. So of course, as I type this, it is a downpour outside.

Driving my husband to work, the car started getting a little hot.

A little hot turned into a full fledge overheating. Sigh, let’s us get the worse part out of the way early in the day.

So, in between texting husband, who was at work, I waited for the car to cool off.

Turns out there is a small piece of plastic, yes PLASTIC, that decided it had had enough and broke. This small contraption, a heater tee connector, allowed water to pour out of my car. Pouring out pretty much like the rain is pouring down right now.

At this point, I am ready to admit defeat as I am not going to make it to the Orange City Council meeting on time.

I start calling people and cannot reach anyone except my wonderful mother-in-law.

For those you have not had the pleasure of meeting her, she is an angel upon this earth.

She gets my father-in-law on the phone to assist me in my plight.

This poor man drives all the way to Beaumont to help me.

Two trips to the parts store and unable to locate a small enough screwdriver, he continues to work on the car until it is safe for me to drive again.

Thank you to the best father-in-law a woman could ask for.

Meanwhile, my phone the battery on my phone is so drained, it won’t even turn on so I can update my husband, or my boss.

So for a couple of hours, I was completely disconnected from everything. No emails, no texts, and no phone calls.

It was wonderful. It was peaceful. It was glorious.

I recall when cell phones first came out, I wondered why anyone would want to be located at the drop of a hat 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Today, I appreciated having the cell phone so I could reach for help as I reflected on why I was driving this older car versus the wonderful Equinox I had this time last year. A drunk driver struck my Equinox, totaling it. Fortunately, we had to go car shopping and not funeral shopping.

The night of the collision, I again was grateful for cell phones, as my husband was able to call me and let me hear his voice as he told me what happened.

However, the peace and quiet of no one being able to reach me reminded me of days when one could sit by the water and enjoy the clouds. A day where one could go hiking and not be disturbed.

A day of being disconnected from the technology. Maybe today was not such a bad day after all.

 

Dawn Burleigh is editor of The Orange Leader. She can be reached at dawn.burleigh@orangeleader.com