Nisyonos
My last (slightly less than) 24 hours have been rather interesting. It started with a phone call that I received from my wife informing me that our car was stolen. I was thinking how much the insurance company will love us, especially after I had been in an accident, ten days earlier. Something didn’t sound right to me. Why would they steal our car of all cars available? Believe me, it’s a car, not an expensive car, it's a fairly typical car on the road. I did a quick search on the internet, and sure enough it was not stolen. Actually, it was, but not by your run-of-the-mill thieves, it was “stolen” by the Marshal’s office.
Time was ticking. I had to drive a half hour or more to pick up my wife and get over to the Marshal’s office before they closed at 5 PM. The car was towed at 3 PM, my wife noticed it was missing when she got back to the spot close to 4 PM. And the race was on.
My wife had called the police when she thought the car was stolen and when I pulled up to where she was, they had finally arrived. As much as I motioned and waved, she was engrossed in conversation with the police as precious moments ticked by. She finally got into the car and off we raced to the Marshal’s office, flying at incredible speeds and arriving at 5:02 PM. No amount of begging of pleading would convince them to allow us to get our car last night. Of course that meant paying for an extra day of “storage”.
My initial reaction was to yell and scream at her. If not for the unnecessary continued conversation with the police, we would have made it. Somehow I was able to be “misgaber on my yetzer”. I didn’t yell. After all, what good would it have done? It wouldn’t have changed anything. Not in this situation, and not for future situations. It turns out she was under the impression that we had more time.
Fast forward to this morning. Obviously I was going to be late to work, so I went to a later minyan. I was one of six. More frustration and aggravation.
I left the house with my wife to once again go to the Marshal’s office and the traffic was horrendous. It took us a horrific amount of time to get there. Of course, what’s going through my head is, if not for that continued conversation, we would have been done with this yesterday. Again though, I kept my mouth shut. We called ahead to get the exact amount needed and then found out that it can only be paid cash. Try and find a cash machine in that area….. MORE aggravation……
Finally get to the office and turns out that they overquoted us, I had the money, paid the marshal, and then went to drive a half hour to the impound lot to get the car. Is there a reason, the lot and the payment office couldn’t be near each other? At least a little closer. I know why. Just to cause MORE aggravation.
Well, FINALLY I get to the impound lot and it turns out that the marshal did NOT over quote. They included the money that I had to pay at the impound. Luckily, I therefore had the extra cash on me. Crazy, even though it was there for less than 24 hours, I had to pay for two days. As I reached into my wallet to get the money, I hear a groan from the gentleman behind me. He was a religious jew albeit of a different ilk than my wife and myself. He asked incredulously, “you have to pay money here as well?” I know the feeling…… Apparently, between the marshal and the taxi that he had to take to get to the impound lot he didn’t have a dollar on him. I was reaching into my pocket, but before I could, my wife already handed him the money he needed to pay.
They finally brought my car out all filthy and stickered up, it’s amazing what they did to it in such a short time. I left there with a huge smile on my face. All the craziness that I experienced in those twenty hours or so, each one was probably a test to see if I would lose my temper. Were all those things in place just so that when I did arrive at the impound, that other jew had someone willing to help him out? Or being that I didn’t lose my temper, was my reward the fact that I had this one last test, which I believe we passed by giving the man the money without a second thought. While we were waiting for our cars, we were discussing how much aggravation we had both gone through, but at the end of the day, that's all it was, aggravation. BH, we were all healthy and happy, just a few dollars and hours poorer.
One thing is for sure. We do not live in a vacuum. Everything happens for a reason. Even when things appear to be going badly, there is an ultimate good at the end of the road.
Oh, btw, I am finally back at work.
Time was ticking. I had to drive a half hour or more to pick up my wife and get over to the Marshal’s office before they closed at 5 PM. The car was towed at 3 PM, my wife noticed it was missing when she got back to the spot close to 4 PM. And the race was on.
My wife had called the police when she thought the car was stolen and when I pulled up to where she was, they had finally arrived. As much as I motioned and waved, she was engrossed in conversation with the police as precious moments ticked by. She finally got into the car and off we raced to the Marshal’s office, flying at incredible speeds and arriving at 5:02 PM. No amount of begging of pleading would convince them to allow us to get our car last night. Of course that meant paying for an extra day of “storage”.
My initial reaction was to yell and scream at her. If not for the unnecessary continued conversation with the police, we would have made it. Somehow I was able to be “misgaber on my yetzer”. I didn’t yell. After all, what good would it have done? It wouldn’t have changed anything. Not in this situation, and not for future situations. It turns out she was under the impression that we had more time.
Fast forward to this morning. Obviously I was going to be late to work, so I went to a later minyan. I was one of six. More frustration and aggravation.
I left the house with my wife to once again go to the Marshal’s office and the traffic was horrendous. It took us a horrific amount of time to get there. Of course, what’s going through my head is, if not for that continued conversation, we would have been done with this yesterday. Again though, I kept my mouth shut. We called ahead to get the exact amount needed and then found out that it can only be paid cash. Try and find a cash machine in that area….. MORE aggravation……
Finally get to the office and turns out that they overquoted us, I had the money, paid the marshal, and then went to drive a half hour to the impound lot to get the car. Is there a reason, the lot and the payment office couldn’t be near each other? At least a little closer. I know why. Just to cause MORE aggravation.
Well, FINALLY I get to the impound lot and it turns out that the marshal did NOT over quote. They included the money that I had to pay at the impound. Luckily, I therefore had the extra cash on me. Crazy, even though it was there for less than 24 hours, I had to pay for two days. As I reached into my wallet to get the money, I hear a groan from the gentleman behind me. He was a religious jew albeit of a different ilk than my wife and myself. He asked incredulously, “you have to pay money here as well?” I know the feeling…… Apparently, between the marshal and the taxi that he had to take to get to the impound lot he didn’t have a dollar on him. I was reaching into my pocket, but before I could, my wife already handed him the money he needed to pay.
They finally brought my car out all filthy and stickered up, it’s amazing what they did to it in such a short time. I left there with a huge smile on my face. All the craziness that I experienced in those twenty hours or so, each one was probably a test to see if I would lose my temper. Were all those things in place just so that when I did arrive at the impound, that other jew had someone willing to help him out? Or being that I didn’t lose my temper, was my reward the fact that I had this one last test, which I believe we passed by giving the man the money without a second thought. While we were waiting for our cars, we were discussing how much aggravation we had both gone through, but at the end of the day, that's all it was, aggravation. BH, we were all healthy and happy, just a few dollars and hours poorer.
One thing is for sure. We do not live in a vacuum. Everything happens for a reason. Even when things appear to be going badly, there is an ultimate good at the end of the road.
Oh, btw, I am finally back at work.
posted by A Frum Idealist | 1/24/2006 12:35:00 PM
10 Comments:
Oh my gosh!!! I can't believe the aggravation you endured last night and this morning! I am so proud that you didn't blow up at your wife... that shows a lot about you! BH everything is ok and back in place. May this be a Kapara....
But who's fault was it that the Marshall took the car? ;)
frumgirl - thanks. it was a crazy 24 hours. After I got to my office, I had another wrench thrown in earlier this afternoon. Luckily I had a good friend to talk to about it.
genendy - fault is shared on that one. there was a ticket on each car that led to this, but that's not the point. Part of the point is that perhaps the ends justified the means. Possibly.
masmida - If you are referring to may as the gibor, I appreciate, but I look at it as winning A battle, in the midst of a lifelong war. Can't rest on laurels you know.
Kol hakavod to you, really I know only few people I can picture staying calm and not throw blames in a similar situations, unfortunately myself included.
I hope your wife realizes how hard you are working on your midos, especially this one which is very hard.
Makes me realize it's not so bad not to own a car after all.
Trust me it was not easy, and as I said earlier, I am not always successful.
Last night, my wife and I were discussing the day's events and remarked at the amazing hashgacha pratis that because of everything that happened as crazy as it was, that we were able to be there for that fellow jew.
Isn't it amazing how we walk around with this consciousness at all times - of things being tests, of our behavior and how it impacts the universe, etc. ?
Hashem has a wonderful nation.
All those in agreement that A Frum Idealist is a superb example of everything Judaism teaches... say aye!
I guess nobody agrees with you frumgirl. myself included.
fg and afi - do you guys know each other? you sound like friends.
Frum idealism - I have been reading some of your post but this one I need to comment on. This incident that happen to you is just awful and the way you describe yourself dealing with the situation is wonderful! HOWEVER I DO NOT beleive you kept your mouth shut. Does anyone agree that this sounds to good to be true? Sorry frum idealist I dont buy it. You cannot be a perfect saint.
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