I don’t like driving at night if I don’t have to.

  Throw in a few raindrops, and I’m even more leery of getting behind the wheel after sunset. After the time change, my aversion to this activity is increasingly pointless, but it remains nonetheless.

  I’m not a fast driver anyway, particularly when my little girl is with me.

  So I was less than thrilled, a few weeks ago, when the brakes on my car started acting up. Every time I pressed my right foot firmly on the brake pedal, I heard a loud grinding sound. I’m not a car expert by any means, but even I knew this was not a good thing.

  For a little while, I tried slowing down earlier whenever I approached a red light, a stop sign or one of those irritating traffic circles. But, that got old really quickly.

  It’s one thing if I’m always driving alone. I’d put off repairs for as long as possible in that situation. But I couldn’t risk being stranded on the side of the road, knowing my child rides in the back seat.

  I knew what I had to do. I had to take the car to the shop, and pray I wouldn’t be without a vehicle for several days while the mechanic repaired it.

  As soon as I got to the shop one afternoon and told him what was going on, he looked under the car and immediately confirmed my fears. The car needed rear brake pads and rotors.

  Ouch. I knew it was coming, but it still stung. I braced myself as I

asked how long it would take to fix the car.

  To my amazement, he said he could take care of it in a couple hours and quoted a price for the repairs. Within minutes, he brought the car into the garage and began working on it right away.

  The mechanic was true to his word. Within two hours, he fixed the car for the price he quoted. I left the shop a happy man, knowing I no longer had to risk driving in the rain at night with bad brakes.

  I chose to be thankful to God instead of lamenting the annoyance of a car repair.

  Ever since that day, I’ve been thinking about the importance of being grateful, even in less-than-perfect times. The car needed to be fixed – there’s no getting around that.  Fortunately, I was able to get the brakes done without being stranded in the process.

  I’ve also been thinking about my late dad, and all that he went through before we lost him to cancer in 2013. That year certainly qualifies as a less-than-perfect time for my family. It’s been more than seven years since his passing, but we still miss him every day.

  Still, as much as I wish my dad was still with us, I’m beyond grateful that he didn’t have to endure a pandemic on top of everything else he faced.

  His suffering is over. For that, I choose to be thankful.

  For many of us, 2020 has been a less-than-perfect time. There’s no getting around that, either. I’ll be glad to close the calendar for the last time at the end of December, and I suspect I’m not the only one.

  But, the way I see it, we each have a choice. We can complain about mask-wearing and social distancing, or we can choose to be thankful for every moment God gives us.

  Jason has worked in newspapers since 2005, spending the majority of that time in Henry County.