Had a bad day lately? Well, let me share my most recent nightmare. It happened on our fifth day on our bucket list trip in Ireland. We traveled to the west side of Ireland and were between towns, just out of some mountainous areas, when we felt two tires blow out on the passenger side of the car. This was the result of some treacherous, narrow, winding roads and some questionable driving skills. Dave and I were the designated drivers, but I was not driving at the time.
Two flats on a rental car in the rural countryside of a foreign country. Yikes! Panic set in as we tried to find a solution to our dilemma. It was the cool-headed CeCe who methodically worked her phone and found a local tire shop open on a Saturday morning!
Two hours later, we were excited to see the car being jacked up and two new tires mounted. Time flew by as we joked about our predicament, and of course, roasted our unnamed driver, who was gracious enough to laugh along with us and add his own quips. Maybe you have a humorous roadside story to share with us?
We were finally back on the road, thanks to real Irish hospitality! After stopping for lunch around 3 p.m., we headed out for our final destination for the night. I began to feel sicker and sicker until I yelled for Dave to stop and let me out. And it only got worse over the next two hours as I had to quickly exit the car three more times. The second picture is my last venture to the curb before we pulled into our destination for the night. Although my party was very compassionate, I could hear them laughing and joking in the car.
They were roasting me and I laughed along with them. Dave: “Joey while you are down there could you check the air pressure in the tires?” CeCe: “Could you imagine if it hit you again as we pulled into this nice hotel for the night?” I replied, “yeah, I guess I could look up at the bellman and tell him we were probably going to need some help with the luggage.” We all laughed so hard that I forgot for a moment how sick I was.
Long story short, it was a 24-hour bug. CeCe had it on day three. Being stranded with two flat tires and following that up with some violent stomach bug — you could say it’s a pretty bad day. Yet, we made the most of it, and that incredible force of laughter prevailed again. Laughter relieves so much stress and turns bad events into memorable experiences. If there’s one thing this trip taught me, it’s that a sense of humor can get you through almost anything.
When we can laugh at ourselves, we are better for it. Have you had a stressful situation or bad day when laughter helped you through it?
CeCe, what else did you laugh about at dinner while I was sick in the room?
Oh, nothing…
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