I have no idea how the conversation started - I think it had something to do with my brake pads not working properly and my poor car shuddering every time I tried to slow down or stop. For some reason this was hilarious to my sister. She has a sort of infectious laugh that is impossible to ignore.
With her giggling in the passenger seat, I had two options - get even more worked up, start yelling at her to shut up, and outwardly curse the god damn autoshop that just replaced my clutch and told me my brakes were fine (bullshit!!) OR I could laugh along with her.
Laugh? How could I laugh with her when I could momentarily smash into the car in front of me? How could I make light of this situation? There is only one answer...imagination.
And so it was: my car was farting.
Yes, my car was having a severe case of car farts, hence the jerks and the shuddering. That was the only "logical" explanation. My poor baby, I decided, had a bad case of upset stomach because he ate bad onions last night.
"Bad onions?" my sister asked.
"Why yes, he normally doesn't eat onions...I think he's allergic, but he got pretty greedy last night and overindulged in some oniony Indian food."
A puzzled but intrigued look from my sister.
"My car is a vegetarian you know. He really likes salads. Sometimes soups but not in the summer, too hot for him. What else does he like? Oh yes, chickpeas..HUGE fan of chickpeas. Sometimes he's in the mood for pizza but not usually...."
"What else does he like" she asks.
Hold on, I'll ask him....
And on and on I went until my sister was convinced my car was talking to me, answering my questions about his diet, and then she too got into the convo - just to be sure I wasn't lying...about the fact that he doesn't eat ribs.
So for the next hour or so, while I could have been having a panic attack knowing my brake pads were wearing thin, my sister and I made light of the situation using a little dose of imagination.
It got me thinking about when else we can tap into this ultra cheap, quite natural, and always accessible tool to help guide us through life's challenges. When things just don't go our way and we can't do anything about it in the moment, what can we do to alleviate the pain? Can we make a game? Can we talk to the problem as if it were a person (insert body part, car trouble, iphone crisis)? Or can we just try and have a laugh about it, see how it feels? I found by talking to my car, I suddenly had a greater appreciation for all that it does for me. I actually started to convince myself that my car had a unique personality and I should treat it like a friend. Maybe I should treat my next injury in this manner - talking to a twisted ankle might not fix it, but it sure would make me more grateful for having body parts that work. If nothing else, imagination certainly helps us change my perspective and makes things go a little more smoothly.
