Got problems? Fahgetaboutit!!

“Stop thinking in terms of limitations and start thinking in terms of possibilities.”–Terry Josephson

Mary McAleer loved going to church, a Unity church in Sacramento, California where her daughter, Shannah, was the associate pastor. She loved it so much that she started at the break of dawn with the first service, stayed to chat between services and then gladly sat through the same music, the same sermon at the second service. In many ways, Sunday was the highlight of her week.

Shannah picked her up every Sunday morning for her beloved ritual. One Sunday, as she pulled into the driveway of her mother’s house, she noticed that her mom’s trusty Oldsmobile Bonneville was missing.

“That’s odd,” she thought. “Where would mom have gone?”

She knocked on the door and like always, Mary was dressed and excited about another Sunday at Unity.

“Mom?” Shannah asked her. “Where’s your car?”

“Out in front,” Mary said, offhandedly, grabbing her purse, eager to hit the road.

“No, mom, it’s not out there,” Shannah said.

It appeared that sometime during the night someone had hotwired the car and taken off with it.

“Mom,” Shannah said, “We need to call the police.”

“There’s not time,” Mary said. “We’ll miss church. C’mon we can worry about the car later.”

“But mom,” Shannah insisted. “This is serious.”

“Ah, I’ll just get another one,” Mary said. “C’mon, let’s get going. We don’t want to be late.”

On the way to church, Shannah, still panicked about her mother’s stolen car, decided to humor her, knowing full well that cars are not easy to come by on a pensioner’s salary.

“So mom,” she asked, “What kind of car would you like?”

“A red convertible, of course,” Mary said.

When they got to church, Shannah, still frazzled about the unfairness of her mother’s situation, ran into a friend and explained what had happened.

“Her car was stolen?” the friend said. “Not to worry. I have a car she can have. It’s just sitting in the garage gathering dust. She can pay me if she wants to or drive it for as long as she wants. Problem solved.”

Shannah hugged her, thrilled that at least that part of the equation was accounted for.

“Oh, by the way,” she asked as she rushed off to prepare for her part in the Sunday service. “What kind of car is it?”

“It’s a red convertible,” her friend answered. “Hope that’s not too young for your mom.”

Pam Grout is the author of 17 books including E-Squared: 9 Do-it-Yourself Energy Experiments that Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality and the recently-released sequel, E-Cubed, 9 More Experiments that Prove Mirth, Magic and Merriment is your Full-time Gig.