I did something today I almost never do. I took my mother's advice. It worked out all right, though, because she was right. Sometimes things are just funny like that.

When I got up this morning, I was sick. I made myself sick, worrying about the stoopid turn signal on the right front of my Saturn. It hasn't been working since Wednesday. I tried to fix it yesterday but (a) broke the old bulb, and (2) had the wrong replacement bulb. So I worked myself up into a state of agitated dementia over it all. That's what I do when a situation, even a simple one, seems to spin out of my control. I make things worse.

My plan was simple. I would go to the auto parts store, with the pieces of the old bulb in a plastic baggie in my pocket, and find a new one. I wouldn't even have to drive into the small parking lot because I could park across the street in the big parking lot and walk. I could even walk to the post office from there, eliminating a couple of unnecessary miles of signal-less driving.

It was a good plan. It would have been a good plan, anyway, if it hadn't been raining this morning. When I woke up and saw the rain, I got my first symptoms. All that planning, and now this. It was just too much.

Then Mom called. She thought she knew the answer. "Just go to the Saturn dealer and have it taken care of." Sure. Right. Like it's that simple.

When I left the house, I had every intention of driving directly to the auto parts store, but something redirected me toward Saturn. (The dealer, not the planet.) I walked in humbly, trying not to be noticed, but no such luck. Jen recognized me, called me by name, and asked me what was up. I went to high school in this town for three years and nobody knew my name. I was a little overwhelmed.

I explained my problem and she informed me that there was an advisory going around about the turn signals on that model, and she'd like to keep the car long enough to make the correction. She said that while I was there we might as well do the regular service that's due next month. It would be a couple of hours, so she called her shuttle driver in and had him drive me home.

As I mentioned, I was a little overwhelmed. Gradually the pain in my stomach went away and I started feeling better. By the time I went back to pick up my car, I was even beginning to breathe almost normally again. Wherever the sick feeling came from, it went back there. The sun even came out for a while this afternoon. Or maybe it was just my imagination. I know life looks better when things go right for a change.