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Margaret Thatcher was a woman after my own heart; she famously once said, ” I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end.” I think it’s the second part of that idea that often interrupts the first part from taking place. I want what I want when I want it. Yes, I realize how bratty and infantile that sounds, but because I’m being honest I don’t feel bad about admitting that.

I feel like patience is one of those lessons I’m never gonna understand; it seems that no matter the consequences of my impatience, I continue to charge full speed ahead. Take this evening for example. I was coming home from the grocery store and trying to make it home before 5:30pm since I was babysitting tonight. The car in front of mine was creeping ever so slowly towards the stop light. This was pissing me off because I wanted to turn and knew I was only about 5-8 feet away from the turn lane where I could accelerate to right-handed turning freedom! Oooohh the prize was just too tempting.

After getting as close as I possibly could to their bumper, I proceeded to squeeeeeeeeze into the right hand lane. However, I slightly misjudged the paved road’s width because my passenger side front wheel went of the edge of the paved road onto the gravel shoulder. This couldn’t have been more than a 5inch drop; however, it was just enough to pop my tire. Yep. As soon as I heard the noise I knew what had happened. I was less than a mile away from home but decided not to risk it and I pulled over. I was so pissed. Pissed that I didn’t just wait 45 seconds longer. Pissed that the lady in front of me was so slooooooooow that I would have had to wait 45 seconds longer. Pissed that my “solution” just cost me a new tire.

Good thing I have Honda’s Roadside Assistance, but I’ll admit – it wasn’t my first thought. My first thought was, “Dude, Sydney Bristow could change her own tire. So can I!” Even though I have never changed a tire in my life, I figured, “How hard can it be?” Let me answer that: Harder than you think.

It wasn’t bad enough that I had time racing against me as the sun was already starting to set, but it was also about 50 degrees outside and I was in high heels. So I did my best but soon realized my strength (what little I had left) wasn’t enough to match the pneumatically tightened lug nuts. So I called the Roadside Assistance and a nice gentleman came out and changed the tire. (Note: Even he had a hard time with the lug nuts. I told him I was actually kind of glad to see him struggle because it made me feel better about me not being able to do it!)

So tomorrow I get to go hunting for a new tire. I wonder if they can throw in a complimentary gallon of patience?