The Key to a Lasting Marriage

We have had to do a bit of maintenance with the cars lately. My car and Katie's needed oil changes, and we had to replace the front tires on the car Katie drives. I always just wait for the car to be finished instead of trying to work around Jim's schedule for dropping the car off and then taking me back to get it. Last week our work pickup needed new tires as well. Jim needed to pick up a donor plaque for a project he is working on (which looks like a huge table in the bed of the pickup truck, I might add), so he wanted to get the tires done before that occurred. On Friday I followed him to the tire shop, drove him to work and headed home to get some work done. He was going to have someone from work take him to pick the truck up later that morning. Well, that didn't work out, so back I went to take him to get the truck.

This morning he headed out early to meet with his motorcycle gang as they are in the final planning phase of their week long ride to Wisconsin that takes place in a couple of weeks. I was still snuggled in bed enjoying my book when the phone rang. Never good news early on a Saturday. It was Jim, and the key had broken off as he was locking his gas tank. As this key also is used in the ignition, this was a big problem. Not only had he forgotten to take his backup key along, he had forgotten his phone as well. The station attendant was nice enough to let Jim borrow his cell phone to call me. And Jim was lucky that I had not started applying the color to my hair or I wouldn't have answered the phone.

Anyway, I found his cell phone and called wife #3 (I'm wife #1, his business partner Ted is #2 and his favorite riding partner Jim Diaz is #3), to explain that Jim would be late, went to the garage and found the backup key, slapped a ball cap on my head and took off for the Phillips gas station. Before I arrived there a sweet older couple from Arizona heard Jim discussing his problem with the attendant. They asked him if he needed some needle nose pliers. They proceeded to go to their motor home and return with three sets of pliers for him to try. He successfully removed the broken piece from the tank, so with me bringing the backup key to him, he was good to go.

Love means never whining when your Saturday plans are disrupted by your spouse - that is the key to a happy marriage. Now I'm off to wash the gray, if not the man, right out of my hair.