Lessons from a car wash

Hmm...this is a blog about a job search, so what does a car wash have to do with that? It will take a bit of explaining...

My son is headed to Chicago today to see Billy Joel and Elton John in concert at Wrigley Field. (My head is whirling at the fact that these two iconic musicians have spanned the generations and my son can sing along to their songs with the best of them!) Son asked to drive my Honda Odyssey, and of course I obliged. It was really dirty, and I considered driving through the car wash at the gas station, and then remembered that the last time I did that, I was terribly disappointed with the wash. There was road film, not all spots were cleaned - really pretty much a waste of $9.

So I decided that I would wash it the old-fashioned way - by hand! This required a bit of time, elbow grease (how many bugs died on my windshield this week) and patience. Not satisfied with a mere wash, I vacuumed the interior and washed the windows inside and out! It took me about 45 minutes to do the entire job.

Here's where this ties into my job search journey...if I were working, I would have had to settle for a second-rate wash and have been frustrated by the low quality. This morning I had a clean car, a bit of exercise (had to climb up and down a ladder to wash the top) and the satisfaction of a job well-done. In fact, when I pointed out to Son that I had done it myself, he gave me the high praise of "looks good, Mom!"

Here's to the joy found in small things!
Until later,
EM