Luck is all how you look at it

For those of you who know me well, you know first-hand that I am just about the unluckiest person there is. I stopped fighting it long ago and now I and misfortune have come to an understanding: I live, and misfortune plagues me. For those of you who don't know me, I thought I'd give you a local taste of what I'm sure I will experience (in some form or another) abroad. The story is a simple one. On a relatively recent day off I'd decided to use a beautiful fall day to my advantage, and so I called up my friend and co-worker Tiffany to see if she and her dog Max would be interested in a hike at Pere Marquette State Park with myself and my dog Maddie. The park is 45 minutes away from Alton, so we meet at my house. Since she drove all the way to my house, I offered to drive to the park. On the way there my car breaks down. While we discuss our options, the Grafton police pass by as we stand (two women, two dogs, and a car which is billowing smoke) on the shoulder of a busy road.


True to form, they do not stop to help us. Two ladies walk by and they do offer to help us (although Tiffany remains convinced that their offer was simply an attempt to avoid the awkward silence of simply walking by and pretending not to see us). We shoo them on since we obviously have the situation under control (no more smoke at this point). Instead, we call a tow truck. Unlike the Grafton police, the tow truck guy is very nice and friendly. Then we continue to wait on the shoulder of the road for him to show up. When he arrives, not only does he agree to take our pictures for posterity, but he also feels bad that we have driven all that way for nothing, and so he unhitches a truck from the tow truck and offers to let us use it for the afternoon to go hiking. We did, and we had a great time.

Now, you might be asking yourself how this qualifies as bad luck. Yes, the car breakdown was unfortunate, but it happens to everyone at some point. And clearly we got lucky with the tow truck guy. But let me tell you the rest of the story: I had bought this car as a fuel efficient alternative to the Durango I currently drive. The plan was for me to sell the Durango and buy a cheaper car that would cost less to drive back and forth to work after I moved back home with my mom for a few months in order to save money for Italy. When I moved to Italy, I would sell it as well. Through an unfortunate series of events (or unlucky, you might say), the guy that swore he was buying the Durango backed out, leaving me with two cars. Try as I might, I could not sell the Durango. So now, despite the fact that the original intent was to save money, I was making two car payments and two insurance payments per month. If this was not bad enough, this stupid car then breaks down to the tune of $1350. I only paid $3000 for it! Do you know how much I had managed to save for Italy since moving home? $800. So all my savings for Italy and a good chunk of my checking were eaten up when the car that was supposed to save me money decided not to work anymore. THAT is how lucky I am.

The only things more impatient than me and Tiffany that day were Max and Maddie. Here's Max all ready to hike.