Day 29

Our garage door opener appears to only work when it feels like it.  A couple of days ago, I was preparing to depart for the day with kids and bags in tow.  I hit the garage door opener– nothing, again, nothing, and over and over.

I had no luck that morning.  So, I actually stood there for far longer than I am comfortable admitting thinking; “Well great, I can’t get out of the garage.  I’m going to have to stay here all day until a repair man can make it. Oh no, the kids are going to be late to school.”   Then suddenly, I had a distant hazy tug at my memory.   I could disengage the garage door opener and actually lift it up.  Genius!

I mean, I knew that.  I didn’t grow up with a garage door opener.  If you wanted to park in the garage, you pulled up, got out of your car, unlocked and lifted the door, got back in your car and drove it in the garage– you get the idea.

But, I forgot.

I’ve decided to attribute it to a sort of mental atrophy we get when we rely too heavily on technological advances. It is the same phenomenon that has rendered us unable as a society to make fire, build a shelter and find your spouse in Costco without texting them.

For instance, I read a news article a couple of years ago about some woman who got locked in her car when the electrical system failed and the power locks and windows wouldn’t work, 911 was called and the operator (who clearly drove an older model vehicle) instructed her to pull up the locks.  This story stuck with me because I can totally see myself doing something like that.

I guess pilots who fly in these super modern airplanes have the same problem.   Everything is so automated and fancy that every once in a while the autopilot will malfunction in some way and the plane will fly itself into the side of a mountain because it doesn’t occur to him to turn off the autopilot and FLY IT HIMSELF.  I know it sounds like I made that up, but I didn’t, it actually happens.  If I was a credible news outlet, I would probably cite sources. But, I’m not, and that would require too much work.

So back to the garage door opener, right now it is about 50/50 on any given day if it works or not. I figure I can live with it for a while.  Plus, since The Simple Year, I am already finding that there are things you can live without, like patio furniture and a cutting board bigger than 4 x 6 inches.

I can feel my survival skills sharpening already.