Don't Push That Button...Unless You're Sure You Want To!

I think I've hit a point in my life where I'm either too busy or too distracted and find myself often running on "autopilot". I absent-mindedly drive through town, thinking about everything but driving, and marvel that I get where I headed to safely. I wander through the house picking up and putting things away without realizing or remembering what my original mission was. I say things to my kids, answering their questions and requests, and never remember saying them at all (or even the conversation) the very next day--or minute. Well, I was moving on autopilot one day last week. It was Valentine's Day, to be exact.

I was headed over to my mom's house and opened the garage door on my way out to the car. I realized that I had forgotten my phone and went back inside to get it. When Nathan was buckled in and I was seated behind the wheel once again, I turned the key in the ignition with my right hand, and my left hand went up to press the garage door button on my visor at the same time (the autopilot action). Well, I put it in reverse and started backing out only to hear a horrible bang and scrape and realized that I had shut the garage door on the car. I quickly pushed the button to get it to go back up, got out, and assessed the damage. The car was fine...just a little scrape on the luggage rack rails. The garage door, though off the track on one side wasn't very bad either. The biggest problem, however, was that the door opener wouldn't bring the door up or down anymore. I released the door and shut it manually, cursing myself for not paying attention to what I was doing. (I haven't mentioned yet how very much I love the convenience of parking in the garage, and I just wrecked that, after only having it for only 4 months.) What a wonderful call to make to my sweetheart on Valentine's day.... My caring, sweet husband was all-too patient with me, and kindly chuckled (probably rolled his eyes, too) and said he'd look at it when he got home.

After parking the car in the driveway and using the front door for exactly 5 days, Steve called the garage door guys and they came over the next day. Apparently, there were some long wires that were wrapped around the hinge mechanism thing and they got pinched and snapped. I'm not sure if it was the terrible jarring from my autopilot operations, or if it would have happened eventually, but I'm seriously grateful that it was only that. The garage door guy lubed it all up, fixed the wiring, added another spring because the door was "too heavy for just one", and fixed the "hard to push, but works in exactly the right spot with your thumb" button by the laundry room door. It's so nice to have my garage door working again, and even better than before. I feel so bad it put us back about $70, but like Steve said, "It could have been a lot worse. I'm sure glad you didn't keep driving and rip the whole thing off the garage." Unfortunately, he's seen me on auto-pilot. He knows me too well!