Heading Out!

I made it to DC without a hitch. Well, no hitches, but maybe a hiccup or two. To begin with, I wanted to leave at noon. But let’s be real, noon the day after Halloween was a fantasy and instead, I sleep until noon. Convinced that there really isn’t much left on my to do list, I see this as a non-issue… Eight hours later, I jump on the road.

Among the things on my list of things to do is fix my tire pressure. The reading on my front left tire has been low for approximately a week, thus this has been an item on my to do list for approximately a week. I find I put things off for one of three reasons: one, is I’m sure it won’t take that long and I can do it tomorrow; two, is I’m sure it will take forever and I don’t feel like doing it today; three, is I don’t know how to do it so instead I just put it off. This is a mature approach to life, I know. The tire thing may have been a combination of reasons one and three, in that I knew what I had to do but was worried there might be a larger problem and then I’d have to put that on my to do list. As it was the day of my journey, however, it was necessary for me address the issue. I fill the tire with Fix-A-Flat and fill the tire with air at the gas station. Only I filled it too much! The PSI reading was supposed to be 35, it had reached as low as 17 when I decided to fix it and after I filled it, it was at 51! How do I undo this?! I had no idea. If I drove on it, would it pop? Would it ruin the other tires or the axel or the something-else-car-sounding? I’m sitting at the BP beside myself with nerves already, I consider calling the guy who gave me the Fix-a-Flat but I feel silly. I consider going inside to the gas station attendant, but again I feel silly. Then, it strikes me, 

“The only man a girl can depend on is her daddy!”  -Frenchie 

 I call my dad, he explains that there’s this thing on the air pump, put the nozzle to the do-dat and I’ll be on my way. I go to the pump, find the nozzle and the do-dat, reduce the air and I’m off. Feeling very satisfied with myself, mind you. It occurs to me, though, why don’t I know the answers to these questions already? Why don’t I know how to get air out of a tire at my age? I've been driving for a decade! It makes me wonder if our parents purposely don’t tell us everything so that they can still parent us when we get older. Maybe it’s not on purpose, there’s just so much to tell in order to prepare us, that they forget some things. Or maybe they really do like having dinner interrupted with a phone call about how to reduce tire pressure? Maybe they don’t tell us everything on purpose so that we’ll still call them, even when we’re older and seemingly self-sufficient on our way on a month long journey? That could definitely be it. If so, I'll have my parents know that they can expect many more phone calls, as this whole 'being an adult' thing is pretty much beyond me!