Nashville, TN – morning

No sooner do I complain about not being able to find the good-food-at-good-prices, small-time, home-town kind of restaurants than I’m sitting in one.  Capital Chevrolet (the wonderful folks who were the only ones in this time zone who’d said they could fit me in.  When in Nashville, please stop in and buy several fine Chevrolets) is right across the street from just such an establishment.  The service manager told me to call back in about 30-40 minutes, and suggested breakfast.  “There’s a McDonald’s and stuff,” she wrinked her face as she said it, “but Diane’s is a real good home-cooking place, and you get a lot for cheap.”  Sold.  I’m waiting on my cheese omelet with biscuits and gravy and home fries, now.

And now I’m eating.  How’s this for up-to-the-minute web page reporting?  I can now officially recommend Diane’s Kitchen, on Murphreesboro Road in Nashville.  The omelet is very good, but the biscuits and gravy are great and the home fries are almost potato-chippy, sliced thin and fried crispy.  Wonderful.  I’m going to go eat now.

Well, now I’m back in the office of Capitol Chevrolet, they’re finishing up looking at the belts and are getting me a price on a starter (it’s been, shall we say, reluctant).  They have a waiting room with a… wait for it… extra phone line.

If you’ve known me a couple of years, you know I’ve gone through some changes over that time.  One of the biggest, I think, is the way I can now look at things differently, and by doing so, have them affect me differently.  Two years ago, I’d be bitching and moaning about having to be up so early, wasting time in a repair shop, just knowing that they were going to rip me off for parts and labor.  Now, though, it’s so much easier to look at things this way:  I had breakfast in a great little restaurant that was just the sort of thing I’d been hoping to find, I’ve got a little extra time with a phone line (again, check last night’s update.  That was exactly what I needed), and any expense here I can mentally compare to the expense and pain of having it break down on the road in the middle of the desert somewhere.  Whereas two years ago, I’d have been bitchy with everyone and generally upset, now everyone seems to be smiling and chatting with me, and I’m generally happy.

A couple friends I’ve been talking to lately have been having some difficult times (they know who they are), and find it hard to swallow my advice that just re-framing things this way can make any real difference.

Sitting here now, I have to reiterate: “Yes, it does.”