Mercury Retro and a New Litany

On December 4, just a day into the Mercury retrograde, I walked out to my leased car, a 2016 Mazda 3, which Rob and I were going to drive to the gym. I noticed that when I pressed my smart key to open the door, it didn’t work. Fortunately, the car was unlocked and I got inside, pressed the start button. Nothing.

Rob’s key didn’t work, either. The fact that neither key worked pointed to a dead battery.

Welcome to Mercury retro, I thought, resigned to the idea that things would now go haywire.

I called AAA and figured I would have a wait for an hour or more. But that really wasn’t acceptable, I had stuff to do that required a car. I felt adamant about this, imagined the AAA truck pulling up in our driveway in minutes.

Five minutes after I placed my call, got a call from the AAA driver, saying he was nearby and would be at our place in 5 minutes. Wow, I thought. About 30 minutes later, he left, my car had a new battery that would be good for three years, and I happily went about my day.

Most of the time, Mercury retrogrades fit Murphy’s Law: if something can go wrong, it will. But on this particular day, I thought of the bumper sticker on the back of our other car: If anything can go well, it will. We bought this sticker in a bookstore in Orlando some years ago and it makes me smile every time I look at it.

I walked out to the other car to take a picture of that bumper sticker this evening so I could use it in this post, but it was too dark. Yeah, I could have waited until morning to take the photo, but figured maybe I could find an image of it online to use. Instead, I found this cool video about the genesis of the sticker, from the man – Gene – who invented it.

So, from now on, before a Mercury retro begins, Gene’s litany will be where I place my focus – on what can go right instead of on what can go wrong.