The worst, WORST day ever!

Have you ever had one of those days that you wish had never happened?  I’m talking like the Bill Murray “Groundhog Day” movie (except in reverse).  So, instead of having the same day happen over and over again, the really terrible day you had NEVER happened!  Well, that’s what last Wednesday was like for me.

It started off pretty well.  The drive over Highway 17 between Santa Cruz and San Jose was relatively benign.  It rarely is.  I mean: This is nearly the only road between those two cities and it is fraught with lots of twisty-turny roads, commute drivers intent on killing anyone and anything in their path that isn’t driving 70 MPH like they are – and there’s no end to tree trimming and roadwork crews who make life miserable for those of us who consider Highway 17 our lifeline to the rest of the world.

Anyway….I digress.  I met my daughter and grandson Thomas at a great park in Cupertino that had a rock-climbing wall, an area where water squirts up out of sprinklers in the cement at unsuspecting times, and the usual assortment of playground equipment.  It was a fun day, and even after my daughter left, Thomas and I stayed for a few more hours before heading back to his house.

That’s when all Hell broke loose (pardon the vernacular).

So, I’ve got the boy in the car seat, trying to figure out which way to go to get back on a freeway that will take us toward San Jose.  Sounds simple, but sometimes what seems like south is actually north and what I’m sure is dead east is labeled on the freeway sign as “west.”  Sigh.

Aha!  Apple headquarters is dead ahead, so now I kinda know where I am.  I have to make a U-turn at the light and then get on the freeway that says “280 south.”  Simple enough.  It’s now about 4:15 p.m. and I’m second in a line to make a right onto the onramp.  The white car in front of me stops, then turns right.  I do the same.

Oh, oh.  Two policemen are now motioning for both the white car and me to drive over on the shoulder and stop.  I’m flummoxed.  I have no idea why we are being pulled over, but of course I’m a law-abiding citizen (and I have my 5-year-old grandson in the back seat).  “Di….did I do something wrong, officer?” I ask with as much concern and girlish charm as I could muster in three seconds.  “There’s a sign that says you can’t turn on the red light after 3 p.m., ma’m ,” he says.  (God, how I hate to be called any derivative of the word ‘madam.’)

“Well, I’ve never been here before, you see officer, and I took my grandson to the park all day, and then I got turned around, and well….the white car turned right and I thought I could, too.”

All totally irrelevant reasons, I knew, but what’s a person to do on short notice?

So I got out the requisite driver’s license, proof of insurance, registration – all ship-shape because, well, I am a law-abiding citizen, ya know (and I hoped he’d notice!).

But, no.  He just took them and went back to his car hood, upon which he wrote out my ticket.  Still waiting to find out the damages for my little right turn.

But….that isn’t all.  After leaving my daughter’s house, I drove home and realized my gas gauge was getting close to empty.  I also had to pick up a few things at the store, so I did that and then waited in line at the gas station.  When it was my turn, I swiped my ATM card, selected “regular,” took the gas hose to put in my tank – and suddenly all the gas station pumps went dark.  I ran in to ask someone what’s wrong and they nonchalantly explained that there was nothing they could do about it – the station would be closed for 25 minutes or so, and I could come back afterward.

Fuming, I drove home, ate a quick bite, then angrily went back to the station to get my gas.  I was so upset (apparently) that after pumping my gas, I left my wallet sitting on top of my car and drove home!

Fast forward to 11 a.m. the next day.  A woman called from a nearby business to tell me that one of their truck drivers found a wallet “and a bunch of credit cards and things” scattered on a major thoroughfare.  He risked life and limb (practically) to pick up as many as he could.  Wow – until that phone call, I didn’t even know my wallet and cards were missing.  I dashed over to pick them up, thanking everyone there profusely and then started to try to figure out which cards were there and which were missing.  The driver did an amazing job – yes, a lot of minor cards were gone, but only one credit card.  It was American Express, so I called them and they told me not to worry – I have fraud protection automatically anyway.  They sent out a new card in three days!

In the meantime, I went to the road where the truck driver told me he had found my things.  I scoured the area several times – and even found a couple more things like my CVS card (big deal) and my healthcare card.  It was kinda smashed, but I have a duplicate anyway.

So….all’s well that ends well, I guess.  There could still be something that I lost that I don’t remember was in my wallet, but I’m guessing it can’t be too important or I’d remember by now.

In the meantime, I’d say it was a very obvious sign that maybe I’m stressing out too much about little things and not paying attention to what I’m doing.  Others might see it as a natural sign of aging.  Sigh…..