Life is Like a Box of Chocolates or a Flat Tire?

I love classic movies from Gone with the Wind, Braveheart, The Ten Commandments and all the way to Forest Gump. One of the classic lines with Forest is when he is sitting on the park bench waiting. He’s always trying to engage whoever is sitting next to him with some of his mom’s amazing wisdom like, ‘Life is like a box of chocolates.’ Today my life was more like a flat tire. I had a rather busy weekend with doing a painting blitz and also helping with a close friend who was giving her daughter a baby shower. I had lent my friend; table, chairs, canopies, ice chest and given drinks for the special occasion. We drove to her house to start the clean up process from the weekend’s activities.

As I was driving to get groceries I felt the back of the truck sway a little but didn’t think much of it. It wasn’t until we had gone shopping at Fresh and Easy that my wife noticed the rear tire was totally flat. This was the last thing I had planned for my day off. I knew that getting the spare out from underneath probably wouldn’t happen easily and that the jack for the truck wasn’t the best. So we tried jacking up the truck only to discover that it wouldn’t go high enough without putting a piece of wood underneath it.

I quickly called our special friends, Sam and his mom Maria, who came to our rescue. They had our van that had some tools that I needed to make this happen. After about 30 minutes of messing around we got the tire free. I then proceeded to wait while Anne took the tire to Discount to either get it fixed or replaced. I have been trying to make Mondays more like a box of chocolates where I can take some down time to catch up and read or actually not do much of anything. So fortunately Discount Tires was empty according to my Anne so she was back with the tire in about 30 minutes.

The challenge now was that I couldn’t jack up the truck totally to get the full tire back on so I had to release most of the air to get it back on. After I finally let out enough air I had to re-inflate the tire with my portable pump. It worked like a charm and I was able to leave after wasting or I should say waiting about an hour plus. My day wasn’t wrecked really just re-directed. We headed home, had lunch, took showers and now had time to catch our breath. Then the text comes asking for help with picking up some younger kids at school The mom explains how their cars are either not working or they don’t have the means to keep tags on the other car.

I debated as to whether I should help or just let them figure it out. Yet, I knew that I couldn’t refuse this mom or more so her kids that I truly love. So here I go again seeing that life can be more like a flat tire that you have to continue to tend to and hopefully get fixed. I asked the obvious question about what would it take to fix the car or get tags and it always comes back to money. I know that most would hope that life would be like a box of chocolates that doesn’t seem to ever be empty.

I was able to catch my breath as I write this blog in a rather chilly Starbucks where I was able to talk with one of the younger Baristas who is a good friend. So now my life turns back to being like chocolates that I so much enjoy eating. Now it’s time to be taxi for a couple of kids. I spend my day between the flat tires in life and the box of chocolates. I look forward to a quiet evening with my Anne before tomorrow comes and we go back to a more normal work pattern. Yet, for this moment I can enjoy a cool passion tea that will energize me for a few hours.

I do love the movie ‘Forest Gump’, which Tom Hanks does an incredible job of acting, because it does show so clearly the reality of real life where few ever see their dreams come true but what made Forest stand out was that he never quit on anyone from Jenny to Lt. Dan, Bubba or himself. I’m learning that I can figure out to change flats and also control my chocoholic tendencies thanks to Forest Gump!