Karma Kicks

Karma is not like a bank account, in which you make deposits that are available whenever you need a shot of good luck. Like all things in the universe, it operates on its own time table and by its own logic.



I mention this because I am having what currently appears to be the crappiest day of the year, but which I hope will turn out to be fortuitous. When I was a child, we had a book called Fortunately by Remy Charlip. "Fortunately one day, Ned got a letter that said, "Please Come to a Surprise Party..." Then it goes back and forth: "Unfortunately it was a thousand miles away. Fortunately..." This book became the springboard for a family game. Someone would start and we'd entertain each other for hours on road trips and stuff.

I am hoping my day has a next line. Kathy went to take her exam. Unfortunately, her van broke down on the Interstate. Fortunately, she was able to get it to a gas station and wasn't stuck on the side of the Interstate. Unfortunately, she was too late to take the exam and lost her money. Fortunately, she was able to call her husband... Fortunately, she isn't dead.

The karma thing relates to something that happened a few minutes earlier. A lady at the gas station, where I filled my car before getting on the Interstate, asked for help because she ran out of gas and had no money. She said she was a nurse 500 miles away from home in her pajamas. It seemed strange, but I had a little cash and gave her some. Maybe it was a con and she made a couple a thousand dollars that morning. Maybe she was stuck. Once, on the way back from NY, we tried to use our debit card to put gas in the car and it wouldn't take it. Fortunately, we had another card that worked. I don't know what we would have done if we hadn't. So I may have been a sucker and I may have been a saint, but I don't think I did anything to deserve having my car fall apart almost immediately.

And here we get back to the universe. Maybe I was better off not taking the test today. I felt bad anyway, and even though I am prepared, I might not have done my best. Had I failed this section, I think I would have lost confidence. And I'm feeling kind of low now anyway. I didn't get smashed on the highway, I didn't even have to wait very long. I was inconvenienced. I will have a huge repair bill. But I am alive and I see I have people who will help me, even if they yell at me first.

So what's the point? We'll see.