Every day life matters

Yesterday, I couldn't wait to get out of the dull, boring, Division meeting.

It is a monthly ritual thanks to which I can empathize with students all the more.  As much as students do not like coming to classes, I hate going to those meetings where I begin to wonder whether I am experiencing slow death.  Time seems to come to a halt; I look at the minute-hand of the wall clock, it appears stuck and not moving at all.  The pontificating words that people utter reach my ears way too slowly, as if they have been channeled through a Salvador Dali filter.

For a couple of years, I skipped going to these meetings, and life was quite blissful.  But, now, I am back to those monthly monotones of minutiae because of professional responsibilities.

Yesterday was no ordinary day either--the junkie in me was running low on the election news.  Again, out of a sense of professional responsibility, I didn't want to sit there and scan through my iPhone.  I kept shifting in my seat.  Finally, when the moment came, I flew out of that cuckoo's nest.

NPR kept me company throughout the drive back home.  It was not that I was panicking about Obama's re-election, or about Romney's election.  I simply had to know what was going on in my country. That was it.

By 7:30, I felt I had had enough.  It was a pleasant evening and I decided to drive to the grocery store.

I neared a traffic light when it seemed that the car in my lane was stopped with the hazards on.  I slowed, and finally stopped.

Leaving the engine running, I walked over to the car.  A young woman, perhaps in her late 20s or early 30s was in the driver seat, and there wasn't anyone else.

"The car just stopped" she said.

"How can I be of help?"

"Maybe you can help me move the car away from the road."

She then tossed her flip-flops on the ground and placed her feet on them and stood up.

"No hassles" I told her. "Shift the gear to neutral and control the steering wheel while I push."

As I got into position, another young woman yelled from across the lanes whether we needed help.  And then jogged over to join me in the pushing.

"Makes up for skipping the workout in the gym" she kidded.  I suppose to attempt at humor at any situation is practically a requirement to be a citizen.  I imagine at polling places they let people vote only if they can tell a joke first!

The car rolled to a stop.  I walked over the driver side.

"If I can borrow a cellphone to call my husband ... I lost my cellphone a week ago" she said. I gave her mine.  When she was not clear on where exactly in town she was, I talked to the guy at the other end and gave directions.

There was nothing else to do, and I returned to my vehicle.  The other woman also returned to hers and we both went our ways.

After the grocery shopping, when coming back home, I noticed the car still there.  I pulled over, shut the engine off, and walked over to the car.  "My husband and his mother are on their way" she said.

She noticed that I saw the cellphone in her hand, and that the keypad was lit.  "I found my cellphone" she hurriedly said.

As I was driving home, and even now as I type this, the entire cellphone aspect feels bizarre. If the phone was indeed lost for a week, she didn't check her car inside out?  And even if she had searched for it, and it was lodged somewhere, it had retained the battery charge all the while?  Perhaps she didn't want to use her cellphone to call?  What could be so clandestine?  Maybe it was not the husband whom she called? 

My life is way simpler. Now.