Ever notice that tears and fears plus 24 hours can sometimes equal a funny story? It’s true. Given enough time, an upsetting or scary incident can actually morph into a “Gee, can you believe that happened?” kind of amusing anecdote in the retelling. At least that’s what recently happened to me.

The other day, I flew home into our local airport and could not, for the life of me, remember where I had left my car in the three-story parking structure. Thanks to my own special blend of direction and number issues, this has happened to me before, so I usually write down the exact location of where I parked the car and keep that piece of paper in my wallet. But this time, I was in such a rush to catch the plane that I didn’t stop to do it. BIG mistake. When I landed and went to look for my car, it was AWOL.

First, I berated myself. How could I be so stupid? But a few more fruitless laps around the parking garage, anger at myself turned into fear that I’d never find it and get out of there. Tears were up on deck when I found a kindhearted security guard who agreed to join in the search. “You stay here,” he suggested. “Just tell me what kind of car you have and I’ll find it.”