Start with Simple

My car is a 1993 Volvo 240 that was graciously given to me by my mother-in-law several years ago. It is slowly beginning to fall apart even though the engine itself is in decent shape. My odometer stopped working a couple of years ago, the radio cut out last winter, and now my driver's side door handle is broken (I have to reach in from the back door to open it from the inside now.) I used to boast about the cold air conditioning, but that also quit on me last summer. The only way I could stay relatively cool was to cruise down the road with all four windows down.

Yesterday afternoon, after laying sod all morning with a great volunteer crew, I climbed into my car to head home only to discover that my windows no longer went down. No maneuvering I could contrive would get them to move and I was left to ride home as the temperatures escalated inside. While yesterday's heat was not too unpleasant, I found myself thinking of the impending summer and wondering how I was going to cope. When I told my wife about the latest Volvo adventure, her first suggestion was that it was finally time to look for a new(er) vehicle.

I did poke around online looking at potential vehicles last night, but also decided to look for the simple fix first. My hope was that a fuse had blown and I could replace it inexpensively and quickly. My relief (fiscally and physically) was met when I discovered it was easily remedied with an inexpensive fuse. Perhaps I would have been better served by checking that first instead of wasting effort on other possible answers.

Sometimes we jump to the worst and biggest conclusions when there are better and simpler solutions available. We might help ourselves more if we adhere to an old rule one of my college professors always espoused-the KISS principle-which stands for, "Keep It Simple, Stupid."