We Need a Word for This Feeling

As I drove to the airport on Friday to retrieve my granddaughter, Aden, I was reminded of the title/sentence from Fran’s March 7th post – https://pencilonmybackporch.home.blog/2024/03/07/we-need-a-word-for-this-feeling/, “We need a word for that feeling.”

I, of course, was feeling excited at first. I even took a half-day off from work so I could grocery shop and then head to the airport around 2pm. At 1:45pm, I opened the box my daughter had had delivered to our house the day before. Inside was a car seat. I grabbed it and the 20 page manuel and headed to the car. I was still feeling excited, at this point.

I opened the back seat passanger door, sat the car seat facing rear on the seat and opened the manuel. I easily decoded the words. Yet, they made no sense to me. I flipped to page 5 which had a small diagram. Now, t started to feel like I was getting closer to properly installing this throne for Aden. Then I saw the recommendation at the bottom of the page suggesting to look in the car owner’s manuel for car specific instructions. Really?

So I opened the front seat passanger door, the glove compartment and found words on page 143 related to installing a rear-facing car seat. Again, I decoded the words but I wasn’t understanding exactly what to do to secure this seat. The diagraom on page 144 showed I could use the clips and not use the backseat seatbelt. OK. But where are the clips? Back to the 20-page manuel and I read the text about using the clips. But I still couldn’t figure out where the clips were. I was feeling less excited now. But what word, exactly?

Quickly, I turned the seat around and on the opposite side was a taped baggie. And inside were the clips!! There was even a useful sticker on that side of the seat with an arrow and the words “clips through here”. So I threaded the one clip through the tunnel area of the seat and used the clip to attach to a metal bar in my car’s back seat cushion. Then the other clip, I attached on my side of the seat in the same way. Whew…I glanced at the time and thought, I better get going.

I looked at the seat harness and knew it needed adjusting but I couldn’t tell from the manuel. Then I noticed a QR Code. Of course, I thought. I’ll watch the video. I quickly used my camera to read the code. But then my phone replied, “Can’t connect to Safari.” Really?

Wanting to arrive as the perfect Uber driver / grandma, I shut the passager doors, climbed into the driver’s seat and arrived at Dulles Airport. Within 5 minutes, my daughter, son-in-law and most importantly, Aden, came through the airport doors. Then within minutes, my daughter had Aden securely strapped in for the ride to Grandma’s house. Really?

I’m stealing words from Fran’s ending to her slice: “I still say we need a word for this feeling. Suggestions?

Ironically, I was listening to this podcast on the way to the airport about the science of reading. I can decode text. I can read diagrams. I can access my background knoweldge. Yet, I still couldn’t completely secure a car seat rear-facing into my car, all by myself. Maybe we need another word for “reading”, too.