It’s that time of year when I begin hopelessly obsessing about holiday preparations. It’s an annual activity, dating back several decades, and I’ve come to expect (and even embrace!) the gut-churning motivation.
Tops on my list of handwringing worries is the fact that all of my previous “go-to” people with pick-up trucks have either passed on (as in died), or moved away from the peninsula.
So I’ve started early, stewing and fussing and randomly inquiring of strangers on the street: “How will I ever get my 10-foot Christmas tree home this year?”
The responses, from those who don’t go running for asylum from the crazed look in my eye, have been varied. Some are ridiculous, some are worth consideration.
“You could get a smaller tree” falls into the ridiculous category. My living room ceiling is 12 feet high. I cried when I admitted that I couldn’t do the ladder work alone to decorate such a fabulous monolith and forced myself to settle on 10 feet, so anything shorter is out of the question.
“You could buy your own pick-up” is high on the list of viable alternatives. Except for the fact that I only need a truck two or three times a year. Not very cost-effective, but there’s a boat in my yard that wasn’t used even once last year, so maybe it’s not so far-fetched to park a rarely-used truck next to it.
A friend suggested, off the cuff, that maybe I should find other people who only need a truck a couple times a year and share a truck.
Other than the fact that Murphy’s Law says we’d probably all need the truck the same days, I gave this idea some strong consideration. But then, who’d be ultimately responsible for paying the license tabs and carrying the insurance? Where would we park it? What about tires and gas and oil changes? And what if one of us had an accident?
So I’m back to wringing my hands and fretting.
Eventually, though, I know it will all work out. The Universe will surprise me with an answer at exactly the right time, and I’ll get my tree home just fine, stand it in the living room and— OMG! I’m going need help getting it into the tree stand!! Whatever am I going to do?!