OK, these are what we call “First World Problems”, fortunately nothing serious. My cousin says any problem that can be fixed with money is not a problem, it’s an expense.
But they still increase my (typically very low) stress level. Here is what our week has looked like:
Tuesday my wife was finished at the gym and her car wouldn’t start. I drove over and couldn’t jumpstart it. AAA tows it to our mechanic and he replaces the starter, putting other jobs aside so he can finish our car Wednesday before we leave (in a different car) for a roadtrip vacation.
We are having a wonderful time on our roadtrip. Sunday morning our son calls us to tell us water is geysering out of our front yard, apparently from a water supply leak. Our neighbor turns off our water from the street and the water company came out (not their problem - too close to our house) and our sprinkler guy came out and fixed the broken pipe, leaving a big hole in our front yard.
Just as we were getting the water leak problem sorted out our son called us again to tell us the refrigerator stopped working. He threw out most of the food and took some over to our next door neighbor for storage. First repair date available is Thursday (this happened on a Sunday). So today is Thursday, repair guy was here, needs to order a part (a circuitboard of course) and it could be well into next week before we have a working fridge.
I guess we will be eating out a lot for a while.
Yes, bad things come in threes. So the upside is positive here. You’re not only done, but the timing was awesome. Think if these things had happened next week while you are on your road trip? That would have been really awful. So it’s a blessing you can handle them now, before you leave.
AC failed in car on high summer interstate road trip with my black long-haired dog
said dog got sick; not sick-sick, just on chicken and rice for a few days and needed to have her spay postponed, and I needed to mop up a few times. But still. By that point, I was thinking “enough, already!”
Urgh! Glad it’s all been remedied and yes, you should be done!
Here was my 3 from last week (not as bad as yours):
Flat tire on the car D needed to take back to college, had to order the new tires because it wasn't in stock, and then the dealer couldn't squeeze us in until the morning she needed to leave.
D waking up and vomiting the morning she needed to leave.
A bird flying into the house through the chimney and spending 30 minutes trying to get the darn thing out (and staying alive).
More funny than problematic, other than the tire, but terrible timing.
Earlier this summer while on vacation two hours from home:
Took D17 to urgent care for what we thought was a UTI only to have them send her to hospital where she was admitted overnight with a kidney infection (and Dh had headed home just a few hours before this happened b/c he had to work rest of the week)
Day after D17 is released from hospital, Dh agreed to meet me halfway b/w home and beach to pick up D17 who wanted to convalesce at home. Shortly into my hour drive, my car started making a really loud noise anytime I went over 60 (speed limit is 65mph much of the drive). Great, what now?
Meet Dh at WAWA in a through town where the speed limit drops down to 35mph. I explain car issue, so Dh wants to see if he can hear the sound (you know where this is going). We get back in my car, he pulls onto highway forgetting it’s 35mph on that stretch and basically floors. We hadn’t gone 50 yards when I see a cop in the median. $165 ticket for going 25mph over the speed limit. Dh is actually going to court, not to try to get out of the fine but to explain the circumstances and hope the judge knocks the points off.
Oh, and the car? It was just a flap in the wheel well with some loose bolts that for some reason, only started vibrating when the car was going over 60mph. At least it wasn’t an expensive fix!
Last summer I had similar household issues and all happened when Dh was OOT: .first my dryer, then my fridge (which also was few days for appt, then another week to get part/repair), then my water conditioning system sprung a leak overnight and flooded my garage. I didn’t discover it until about 12 hour’s later when I was on my way out!
I woke up today and dropped something on my toe. I waited and two more such things happened. It is typically like this for me. The other thing I have noticed is if the first thing is for a relative or a friend then the next ones are the same removed.
I take solace in knowing that 3 is the number. It has sometimes meant 6. Never (knock on wood) has meant 9. Why? Just do not know but a true believer> Guessing there might be a scientific answer?
I’m thinking your question is rhetorical. But no, bad things do not happen in 3s. People love to look for patterns in random data, so this kind of grouping of events isn’t surprising. Many people simply group events in 3s in their minds (confirmation bias), overlooking incidents that deviate from that pattern.
I had never heard of this until years ago when my MIL commented after someone died, worrying who would complete the three. I think it only took a week for the other two.
I don’t believe or disbelieve, but do tend to search for instances to complete the “three” as quickly as possible to get the bad luck out of the way.
So what is an acceptable timeframe to say the three things go together? A week? A month?
My friend and I were discussing the untimely deaths of two acquaintances, and she said, “Second brings third.” That weekend she was killed in a car accident. Since then I’ve been very careful not to point out two bad events happening in succession.
I hope not, a dear friend dropped dead in his 50s just a couple of weeks ago and my mother died this week, guess we need to wait a few weeks to be relieved
I hope it stops with three. I had surgery end of May, and not covered by insurance. I had to get braces, and during the exam, they learned I needed a root canal. I get home from surgery, and my AC is broken. The following week, major pool leak.
Woo, I guess that is more than three.
If you get up in the morning and everyone gets home safe that night, it’s two good things right there to subtract from the bad list.
There probably a hundred good things a day but we aren’t programmed to appreciate or count them. There no headline in tomorrow’s paper stating 10000 flights land safely yesterday or two billion hugs delivered globally.
Maybe the flat or the speeding ticket saved you from a different fate. Perhaps the food in the fridge might have led to a really terrible disease. It might be bad luck or actually good luck and just don’t know it.
