One day all is well and the next my car locked me out.
I mean, I went to my GP, took the kid to her pediatrician, we went to CVS to drop off our prescriptions, stopped by Safeway for groceries, put a full tank of gas, came home and unloaded all, with the intention of going back out to the neighborhood park where we normally ground, and on our way home to stop by CVS to pick up our prescriptions. Car wasn’t having it. It simply refused to open. The whole freaking car with three doors has only ONE key hole and it won’t work!!!
Oh well, we still have a few more pills for the coming days, hopefully we should have this matter sorted out in good time to pick up our prescriptions before we totally run out. Called the mechanic the next day and he said to change the battery in the key; that may help if the blade doesn’t work and then to drop the car off to him to take a look at what the problem is.
I ordered the battery for next day delivery. It took 4 days! Car still won’t open! I called the mechanic again and he referred me to a locksmith who quoted $150 to just pick the lock so that I can get in.
Daylight robbery!!
Meanwhile we are running out of our meds… AND FOOD! And the kid started to worry that her moods will plunge without her antidepressants which (the thought alone) didn’t help her moods….or mine
Frustrating.
Kid had been battling with a headache too for a week, pediatrician asked me to take her back in but I couldn’t without a car, the sporadic bus service that travels our route didn’t even show up so we remained stuck at home for a whole week….and slowly started seeing the back of the fridge and spaces on the pantry… No way to go get food or pick up our prescription….and really, too broke to pay for delivery if I was also going to fix the car (every cent counts…) I slowly was beginning to worry by now. The kid’s mood gets really low when she doesn’t get to ground and be in nature, and a week without grounding didn’t help that much, plus the prolonged headaches made matters harder….and I had to remain positive.
I am the adult after all, and in control of the little things….
I wake up every morning, see what we have left, and decide how to ration it so that she can have enough to eat before we can get food again, but in order to have enough and for her to have variety, I resolved to eating bananas. Yes four days on only bananas. Talk about BORING!!!
Life has not been very kind lately and I have drained my friends with requests at every turn, so this was one of those things I decided not to bother anyone with (you want to save the request for help for the ‘bigger’ things so people don’t get tired of you with the little things. It’s tricky to draw the line between genuinely needing help and simply being a burden…)
Finally a friend reached out and got some food to us. Phew!! Food for another week!!! After a week of mild panic and four days (for me), I finally got to eat cooked food again! But I still need to sort out the transportation situation…
Sometimes, you get used to being able to travel from point A to B when you need to, to suddenly feeling like a prisoner in a space you already don’t feel at home being in, simply because you can’t go anywhere even if you wanted to.
The locksmith that was finally able to help out said he won’t be available till 7pm tonight, and asked to be paid in cash. That would mean driving with him to an ATM to draw cash since I don’t keep cash at home. I was not planning on going to an ATM at that hour with a stranger to draw cash (not to any of the ATMs near where I live anyway, too sinister for my comfort…
I decided to ask for recommendations on Next Door for an affordable car locksmith, see if I would find someone that can come at a decent hour and maybe take a check, or PayPal or some sort of payment that doesn’t require me being at an ATM with a stranger at a sinister location. A lovely lady suggested I call AAA.
D’uh! Slaps forehead!! Why didn’t THAT cross my mind??? I have only ever used them to tow me to a mechanic or take me home from the road side. And it took me over a week and a stranger’s suggestion to know what to do??
Ha!!
Finally the AAA guy comes with a long arm tool and in 5 minutes had all doors opened!
What I have learned is that I am physically and mentally tired and it doesn’t help much that I am managing my depression in this state, and at the same time trying to stay on top of things and give the kid a sense of ‘everything-is-ok’; It doesn’t help my common sense.
That it’ll take me a whole week of worry, stress and near panic to sort out this banal matter is really bothersome.
©Naan Pocen
ARTIST. WRITER. ACTIVIST 
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