check engine

The day I moved to Austin, I got an oil change. The next morning, I woke up to my "Check Engine" light glaring at me. Sure that the mechanic must have overlooked something minor during the oil change, I took the car in and was told that nothing was wrong with the oil change. The mechanic told me that sometimes with newer cars, the light will come on without reason after a certain mileage, in a way, forcing you to get a tune up. Check everything out, make sure everything is okay internally. It was just coincidental that it happened to come on the day after my oil change.

Our computer is less than 9 months old. The day that we got our internet turned on, we've had nothing but trouble. Slow speeds, problems with our connection. I was (and still am) sure that it is a problem with our internet service provider, or that the cable is possibly bad, but after an hour and a half of talking with a customer service rep, he's convinced that it is an internal problem with the computer itself. He suggested that I call Dell to check it out before sending a technician out, and just make sure that there are no viruses or anything. The timing of it's demise after our internet hookup....just coincidental.

On my second full day of living in Austin, I found myself in the emergency room, sure that I was dying, or going into preterm labor, or possibly just terribly sick from something I ate. The results showed that I should be perfectly healthy. Dehydrated from all the vomiting, and low potassium for the same reason, but otherwise...fine.

You will recall that Dustin was in the hospital last month as well, and the results are still inconclusive. We assume that he has stress related migraines, but we just don't know.

I am thinking that our bodies have a "Check Engine" light, going off right now, forcing us to slow down. Breathe. Concentrate on being healthy and happy and content. Nothing is really wrong with us, but we need to recognize the importance of taking care of ourselves. Routine Maintenance that we would otherwise overlook, had it not been for the "Check Engine" light.

I am realizing that there are more important things than getting all of my boxes unpacked RIGHT NOW.
There are more important things than clean floors, clean laundry, clean bathtubs.
There are more important things than stressing over bills that are late, because they will get paid, regardless of how much I stress about them.
There are more important things than being upset with my kids because they won't keep their messes in one corner, and instead must drag them all over the house.

A healthy home, healthy heart, healthy mind. These things matter. Why do I forget so easily?? Thank God for the "Check Engine" light.

posted by mindi11 @ 9/24/2006 12:06:00 AM