Oh to be a grown up

This week I experienced what it is truly like to be on the last ends of any survival kit.

This is how Tuesday began: R50 left in my wallet, petrol light on red/orange/green (it doesn’t work) and no food in the house. Then to add a bit of tequila, no what’s worse than salt? Acid? To the wound (Tequila would have been greatly appreciated) my car decided to play, “How far can we push you before you completely give up?” and basically died on me.

I woke in a panic as rain started to pelt furiously against my pillow, I had forgotten to close the window above my bed the night before and although enjoying the feeling of a summer storm, I didn’t quite expect it to climb through my window. This panic however was not related to my waking, more like my windscreen wipers had stopped working on my car and the thought of how I was going to tell my boss that I couldn’t come to work because I had been tempting fate by not having them fixed for the past week, got me out of bed. Dressed, face on and in that car in a matter of minutes. As I drove at a petrol conservative pace,  a soft but panicky realisation washed over me, I actually had no idea where my mother had said the mechanic was.

So here I am two days later, R3000 shorter (thanks car) and still haven’t quite reached payday. I now have R5 in my wallet, some stolen Wheetbix out the office kitchen in my tummy and a petrol light, that to my dismay, still doesn’t work. I am pretty sure that angels drove me to work today because there can’t possibly be any petrol left in my car.

Sitting at my desk, waiting for the office to arrive – yes, I got in early to miss the traffic - I have to think: if life didn’t throw us these character building lessons how would we learn to truly live? And even though at the end of every month we have to count the brass that we thought we would never use, dodge the street kids as you know they probably have more money in the bank than you do and click into student gear, you know that the very next day when your bank is full, you’ll totally forget what it was like to be today and become that imaginary millionaire until the next month end.