My wife, Tere, and I purchased a new car in December. Even
though we had tickets to fly from California to Houston to visit her family for
Christmas, we decided to drive to Texas to break in the new car. We packed the
car and took off for a wonderful week with Grandma.
We had a wonderful time and stay to the last possible minute
visiting with Grandma. On the return trip we needed to get home in a hurry, so
we drove straight through — one person driving while the other one slept. After
driving in a hard rain for several hours, we arrived home late at night. We
were tired and ready for a hot shower and a soft bed. I had the feeling that no
matter how tired we were, we should unpack the car that night, but all Tere
Wanted was the hot shower and a soft bed, so we decided to wait and unload the
car in the morning.
At seven o’clock in the morning, we got up refreshed and
ready to unpack the car. When we opened the front door, there was no car in the
driveway! Tere and I looked at each other, looked back at the driveway, and
looked at each other again. Then they're asked this wonderful question, “Well,
where did you park the car?”
Laughing, I answered, “Right in the driveway.” Now we knew
where we had parked the car, but we still walked outside, hoping that maybe the
car had miraculously backed out of the driveway and parked itself by the curb,
but it hadn’t.
Stunned, we called the police and filed a report that
activated our high-tech tracking system. To be on the safe side, I also called the
tracking system company. They assured me they had a 98 percent recovery rate
Within two hours. In two hours, I called again and asked, “Where’s my car?”
“We haven’t found it yet, Mr. Harris, but we have a 94
percent rate recovery within four hours.”
Two more hours passed. I called again and asked, “Where’s my
car?”
Again they answered, “We haven’t found it yet, but we have a
90 percent recovery rate of finding it within eight hours.”
At that point, I told them. “Your percentage rate means
nothing to me when I’m in the small percentage, so call me when you find it.”
Later that day, a commercial aired on the telephone with the
Automaker asks, “Wouldn’t you like to have this car in your driveway?”
I responded, “Sure I would! I had one yesterday.”
As the day unfolded, Tere became increasingly upset as she
remembered more and more of what had been in the car — our wedding album,
Irreplaceable family photos from past generations, clothes, all of our cameras
equipment, my wallet and our checkbooks, just to name a few. These were items
of little importance to our survival, yet they seemed of major importance at
that moment.
Anxious and frustrated, there asked me, “How can you joke
about this when all of these things and our brand new car are missing?”
I looked at her and said, “Honey, we can have a stolen car
and be all upset, or we can have a stolen car and be happy. Either way, we have
a stolen car. I truly believe our attitudes and moods are choices and right now
I choose to be happy.”
Five days later our car was returned without a trace of any
of our belongings, and with over $3,000 worth of damage to the car. I took it
to the dealer for repair and was happy to hear they would have it back to us
within a week.
At the end of that week, I dropped off the rental and picked
up our car. I was excited and relieved to have our own car back. Unfortunately,
these feelings were short-lived. On the way home, I rear-ended another car
right at out freeway exit ramp. It didn’t hurt that car I ran into, but it sure
Hurt ours—another $3,000 worth of damage and other insurance claim. I managed
to drive the car into our driveway, but when I got out to survey the damage,
the left front tire went flat.
As I was standing in the driveway looking at the car,
Kicking myself in tail for hitting the other car, there arrived home. She walked
up to me, looked at the car, and then at me. Seeing I was beating myself up,
she put her arm around me and said, “Honey, we can have a wrecked car and be
all upset, or we can have a wrecked car and be happy. Either way, we have a
wrecked car, so let’s choose to be happy.”
I surrendered with a hearty laugh and we went on to have a
wonderful evening together.
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