I woke up one day last fall and thought to myself, “Today is going to be a great day.” I should never have done this because it's like asking the universe to prove you wrong. Let me tell you, the universe did take this confident declaration as a personal challenge to make sure I never woke up feeling this way again.
The day started out normal enough. I was awoken by an extremely energized sheepadoodle who let me know she was ready to go out. I had to drag a teenager out of bed and threaten her with every confiscated electronic device I could think of to let her know I was serious about school attendance. I don’t actually remember this part but it's a safe bet to assume I got to the kitchen and was out of milk, coffee and/or clean spoons. Still a really good morning.
Then I went outside to retrieve the puppy and that’s when it wasn’t good. My puppy, the absolute joy of my life, my favorite child, had dug up my flower bed and was covered in dirt. Being that I was already committed to feeding my friend’s dogs before work, I had no choice but to load her up in my car and move on with my day.
And that was just the beginning.
I had been driving for just a few minutes when I realized something was wrong with my car and even my uneducated self knew that it was probably a flat tire. I pulled over and realized that I indeed was the lucky owner of an extremely low tire. I was able to get to an air pump and realized that we don’t live in a world where air is free anymore. I found some loose change only to discover that we also live in a world where compressed air only comes with the tap of a card. I grabbed my wallet, ran the card for $1 and then thought to myself, “You should take the two seconds to put the wallet back because it won’t end well if you leave it on your car.” In another moment of confident belief in myself, I quickly disregarded this statement and sat my entire wallet on my truck while I worked on filling my tire.
Two miles down the road, LITERALLY, my AirTag notification went off to tell me that my wallet had been left behind. I, of course, turned around and headed back to the gas station, praying I would find my wallet right where I assumed it would be. As I drove around the parking lot, I realized I have never been a lucky person and today wouldn’t be an exception.
But, WAIT! I have an AirTag in my wallet, which is an absolute necessity given my proclivity to randomly leave stuff around my house with no real rationale. My portable tracking device should lead me right to my missing wallet. As I parked my car to pull up the app, my puppy did something she has never done before.
She threw herself out an open window in the middle of a Maverick Gas Station rush hour. I was absolutely stunned. My jumping out of the car to get her was a sign that we were ready to play and she loves to play! As she ran in and around every gas pump, she noticed other people were excited to participate as well and started freely running circles around myself and the 10 other good Samaritans who were trying to help grab her. By the time someone managed to get ahold of her and help load her back into the car, my AirTag told me my wallet was quickly traveling down I-15.
So it was about 8:30 and I already had been late feeding a geriatric dog, had a ruined flower bed, messy car, flat tire AND a missing wallet. It was one of those mornings where a red haze had settled over my vision and I had to remind myself the only thing I have control over is my reaction to situations. Needless to say, I was feeling pretty discouraged by the time I rolled into work 38 minutes late.
But as soon as I sat down, things started to turn. A message request popped up from Mr. Davy Mitchell and he had found my wallet in the road and had grabbed it on his way to Blackfoot. He wanted to let me know that it was safe and sound. My boss took me to get my tire fixed and the store fixed it for free for reasons unknown as I had no idea where my tires originally came from. My puppy cocked her head to the side and was, of course, instantly forgiven. A terrible day turned into a great day not because of me but because the people of our community are a form of magic. Eastern Idaho is filled with good-hearted and kind humans who treat others like they want to be treated. I’m so thankful to live here.