Life Just Happens
by Robert Meagher on 02/01/17
I walked out of my regular, Tuesday evening study group with
an air of unconscious expectancy. I expected, of course, for the car to be
where I parked it earlier in the evening. As I walked toward where I parked the
car, I remember looking up the street and thinking “Why does the street look so
empty?”…realizing there were no cars parked on the block I thought I parked the
car on.
As I approached the location where I parked the car I
remember having the thought “Where is the car? I could swear I left it right
here.” And then came the thought… “Hold on one minute…did I park it somewhere
else? I must have parked it somewhere else.” And then came the thought… “OMG!!!
The car is gone!!!”
My mind started to race. “OMG!!! The car has been stolen!
Hold on a minute…where are all the other cars that were here…have they all been
stolen too?” I looked up and down the street and realized that the City had
been clearing snow and I had parked the car in a zone that was scheduled for
snow removal. When the City clears the snow banks from the streets, they tow
away all cars that are impeding the snow removal process.
Now, momentarily realizing what had happened and that the
car was indeed gone, a series of awful feelings coursed through my body—fear, rejection,
humiliation, anger, disbelief, shock,…did I mention fear? As I resolved myself,
momentarily, to my fate, I started the long walk home. As I walked home, I
experienced one of those wonderful scenes from a cartoon where an angel appears
on one shoulder and the devil appears on the other shoulder and the following
type of conversation ensues:
Devil: How could this happen to me?
Angel: It happened. It’s not the end of the world. You’re
okay. Everything will be okay.
Devil: Couldn’t the City have called me?
Angel: Ummm…how exactly were they to call you when they
didn’t have your number?
Devil: How inconsiderate can they be?
Angel: They were doing their job. You’re okay. Everything
will be okay.
Devil: There was a handicapped sticker on the dashboard for
crying out loud, in clear sight! Couldn’t they see it?
Angel: How exactly does that change anything?
Devil: Where did they take it?
Angel: Relax. Everything will be okay.
Devil: What if they damaged the car when the moved it.
Angel: Breathe…everything will be okay.
Devil: OMG!!! The alarm must have gone off in the car when
the moved it. The alarm is sensitive! It must still be going off…somewhere.
Angel: 10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1…serenity now!
Devil: OMG!!! What am I going to tell my partner? I’m toast!
Angel: You’re okay. Everything will be okay.
Devil: But how could this happen to me?
Angel: Rob, this has happened. You cannot change it. But you
can relax and trust that everything will be okay.
The above conversation went on in my head for about 10 minutes, eventually dissipating as I realized I was indeed okay and that whatever will be, will be. I remember actually laughing at a point and saying to myself… “Well, I was NOT expecting that to happen tonight.” I realized how complacent I had become in expecting to be able to drive to where I needed to go; park where I always did; to come out of the discussion group and climb back in the car and drive home. All of this I expected would happen. Don’t we all. Don’t we all expect life to be a certain way? Especially when we allow our lives to run on autopilot, walking through life oblivious to what is going on around us?
