A Griswold moment

Well, that didn't take long.  After all of my "Kumbaya" postings of late, it didn't take long for the Clark Griswold in me to emerge.  We hadn't been on the road home from visiting my in-laws 10 minutes before aggravation began to set in.

After laboring to load the Ford-a-saurus (Excursion) with the 2 1/2 tons of Christmas presents for the kids, two German Shepherds, and half of our worldly possessions required for the 3-hour trip, we were finally on the road.  Bladders were empty, beverages were handy, sun glasses donned.  Now for some tunes.  What's the radio doing?  It's "seeking".  Randomly.  Hmm.  Clearly the sort of thing I can diagnose while piloting the world's largest SUV down the highway at 73 1/2 MPH.

I'll spare you the sequence of events that followed, except the last two.  Convinced that one of the buttons is stuck from the previous night's freeze, I begin to deliver a series of sharp blows in the general area of the radio to "jiggle it loose".  Nope.  Sigh.  Pursed lips.  I'm now about a pitching wedge away from pulling over and taking a pickaxe to the dashboard.  Just in the nick of time, my bride determines that boxes on the floor behind the center console are pushing the rear radio controls (that I don't even remember are there).  Problem solved.  Whew...that was close.  I was trying to imagine 3+ hours of road noise and an ever-tightening grip on the steering wheel during holiday traffic between Dallas and Austin.  Like an old Merrie Melodies cartoon, I also felt my head morphing into that of a Jackass.

All the Christmas season merriment, thoughts of good will, reflection of The Holy, desire for a year of service, vanished in an instant while I obsessed about something so trivial.  It's funny now, but requires some deeper reflection still.  I'm having a hard time imagining those whom I admire most becoming so irritated over such trivialities.  Character isn't revealed only in the big moments of life, but also in the smaller moments.  Smaller moments happen more often and our character is revealed more often than we think (or perhaps would like).

Blessings my friends,

Allen