I resist taking advice. As a kid, when my mom told me I needed a sweater, I would roll my eyes and counter that I didn’t need one because I was a hard-ass motherfucker, and small inconveniences of nature like 40 mile-an-hour winds didn’t affect me. Then, I would call her an hour later because the “slight breeze” ripping through my spaghetti-strap tank and nylon shorts was making my teeth chatter. She would shout, “Too bad, sucka!” and hang up the phone.
Luckily, I’ve grown out of this ugly habit. Mostly.
I carry very little cash with me because when I have it around, I can never remember where I spent it and half the time, I think I’ve lost it and walk around in circles, checking pockets, turning purses upside down, and slipping my hands into all sorts of cracks and crevices looking for it. Harv thinks it’s best for me to stuff twenty dollars in the glove compartment…just in case. This, of course, makes me more determined to show Harv that my own system works just fine.
Usually, I just carry around my drivers license, a debit card, a credit card, and my Costco membership- because you never know when you’ll be in your car and suddenly think “Hot damn, I need 120 ounces of ketchup and 98 rolls of toilet paper RIGHT NOW.”
This worked just fine until last week.
There may have been an incident involving a parking garage. I may have called my husband during the middle of a workday asking for a five dollars. Harv may have asked why I needed this money, and I may have admitted that I was stuck in a parking garage with a broken ATM and no bank nearby to withdraw any cash.
There may have been an uncomfortably long silence on Harv’s end of the phone. Then there may have been some snorts and muffled laughter. I may have heard Harv speaking to no one in particular, “God, why me?” but this hasn’t been verified.
The only thing I’m sure of is that Harv must have felt pretty lucky in that moment to be married to someone who isn’t afraid to ask for help. I think that’s the sign of a really strong person- someone who is willing to disrupt her husband’s workday and ask him to drive across town to bring five dollars so she can escape the clutches of a parking garage.
Harv, you really scored.
Have you ever been woefully unprepared?
image via bluntcard.com
