A Little Too Carefree

I have had two of the funniest experiences this week, and the joke has been on me! First, early in the week when my son and I were on our way to work and summer camp. After reaching the depot, we had been taking a different bus than normal to reach his summer camp instead of the one we take during the school year. But this day, on our bus close to home, we ran into a dear bus friend we hadn't seen in awhile, and I became engrossed in catching up with her. When we all reached the depot to change buses, she was getting on the bus we would normally ride to go to school/work, so we joined her out of habit (and still enjoying our conversation). After we boarded the bus, our usual morning bus friends greeted us with such enthusiasm (they hadn't seen us in a couple of weeks), I thought to myself, 'How nice to have such a nice group of people to ride with in the morning! What a blessing to get to wish a good morning/day to several people before even arriving at work!' It wasn't until we were almost at our usual stop near work/school that I realized we were not going to school! We needed to be on the other bus that takes us to camp. We had gotten on the wrong bus! Me, the 'bus blogger' and self-proclaimed bus expert took the bus going the other way! Then when I sent a text to my workmates telling them I would be a little late because I took the wrong bus, they both said, 'Sure you did!' as if they couldn't believe I would do such a thing! That gave us all quite a laugh, although it was not as funny once we got started walking in the direction we needed to go. Both of us arrived at our respective destinations, a little humbled by the experience.
The next 'too carefree' moment came while I was out of town visiting family this weekend. My son and I again had taken the bus to the airport area to rent a vehicle to drive out of town. While out of town, we were driving the rented vehicle to the grocery store with our family in tow. When we first arrived at the store, we were not all going in, but then it was decided we needed more than originally thought. So we all went in the store, purchased our items, looked for a movie to rent and headed to the car; all of this took about 20-30 minutes. While I was searching my purse for the keys to the rental car, I noticed that my son and nephew had already jumped in the back seat. I thought that was odd because I presumed that I locked the car upon exiting. Well then I became concerned that I had left the keys in the car, but was mortified to learn that I had left the keys in the ignition and left the car RUNNING! A woman in the car next to us commented how fortunate we were that no one had taken advantage of the situation. After we all agreed and settled down from the laughter (again at my expense) all I could say in my defense was, 'Well, on the bus all I have to do is exit at my stop! I don't have to worry about turning off the vehicle, locking it or keeping up with more keys!' As my sister-in-law came up from her laughter for air, she said to me, 'You need to blog about this!'
Both experiences help me to see in a humorous way that I am becoming more 'carefree' about the things in life you can do little about. I just need to remember to not be 'careless' about those things I need to be mindful of. Oops.