Double AAs . . .Batteries, I Mean

Why do smoke alarm batteries always pass away in the middle of the night?  Is it some cruel joke?  Can’t they decide to wind down and beep at noon?  Or 6 p.m.?

I was looking forward to going to bed early and getting a good night’s sleep.  Then the beep.  At 2 a.m..  Beep.  Beep.  Beep.  Sigh.  I extricated myself from the five cats that were snuggled close around my legs, found the step ladder (at 5'3" there are lots of things I can't reach in my kitchen), removed the batteries, cursed for five or six minutes, wended my way back into bed where the cats were still sleeping, and laid there for three hours until the alarm went off.  Neither my son nor my husband heard a thing.

Height challenged once again this week – there was a cobweb in my new office space that I couldn’t reach.  Drawing inspiration from my inner McGyver, I pulled the tape out of my super duper metal tape measure, locked it, wrapped a paper towel around the end, and then conquered the web.  (Yes, I rented office space right across the street from my home, but since the cats seem to think that computers were invented for their enjoyment, and not my livelihood, the drastic step of leasing space became a necessity).

Where there’s a will, there’s a way.  We can’t control lots of things – from brain tumors (see previous post) to dying batteries.  But we can figure out ways to cope, conquer, and make each other smile.  With calm thoughts and planning, not anger and frustration.

So though this missive is short, I hope these few thoughts before I go to sleep make you smile.