I hope you know about jumper cables and a jacket. If you don’t know about the things you’re supposed to keep in your car, here is a list of practical shit.
My list is different.
My car is a treasure trove. It likely has a makeshift vase, a frisbee, and a box of things destined for the Good Will. But here are the things I think are smart, that you might consider adding to yours…
An excessive and robust box of nonperishable snacks and sundries
Granola bars and protein bars are so elementary, dear Watson. I want you to have kale chips and dried apples, jerky and instant coffee, sweet and savory flavors, electrolytes and soup. I don’t keep bars of chocolate because of melting, but micro larabars with chocolate chips are ok for me (and the Target brand works for me). I was 40 years old before I realized that I could have a latching box filled with variety to keep me out of expensive convenience options or low blood sugar meltdowns.
Ninja gear
Whatever sort of ninja you are, you need this gear. For me, it is a full yoga outfit, a full doula outfit, and a full Clark Kent professional outfit (although some pieces overlap). I also have running shoes and socks and my yoga wear could be worn to swim in, should a roadside hot springs present itself. Maybe you are known for spontaneously digging ditches or attending the symphony on a whim - your ninja gear may vary. But wow, has it saved me on quite a number of last minute occasions.
I facilitate and rotate this as I purge the closet and prepare to donate items, often upgrading the car box.
A book. An actual book.
A National Geographic will suffice, but rather than scrolling on my phone at the dentist, I have pages to read and something to join me/others for spontaneous hospital visits. Think about something you could leave behind. Trade for a tow. Burn for warmth?
CPR related paraphernalia
If you’re not the sort of person who stops, skip it, you heartless barbarian. But we are, and so each car has a mask and glove kit in the passenger door. Large gloves, small gloves, cpr mask. More on this below…
An empty, clean yogurt tub, with lid.
More often than not, this becomes an impromptu dog water bowl in my life, but can step in if your restaurant offers you styrofoam to-go containers that will outlast humanity so you can spare the tiramisu. Also, if you have a queasy passenger, you will be so glad to have something to contain and toss. Clean. Reusable. Hand-off-able…
Now, onto life saving and solace…
A block west of the main drag, in the tiny forgotten California town of Santa Maria, there is an American Red Cross on Carmen Lane. Twenty years ago I lived across the street, and it became my accidental home-away-from-home as I studied and worked remotely in a time when we treated email daily, before social media could keep me close to anyone.
I can’t recall what took me through the doors in the first place. Maybe I needed to renew my CPR certification for my volunteering with Big Brothers, Big Sisters? Or maybe it was to qualify for my personal trainer and group fitness instructor test? Or the job at the nursing home? I’m not sure. But after First Aid and CPR, my boyfriend at the time and I invested our disposable time in learning everything there was to know about disaster preparedness.
I was working full time first at Country Oaks Care Center (the nursing home, not the furniture store) as a temporary admin and working full time towards my master’s degree in nonprofit management (the only advanced degree that shares its name with a snack food!). The job was exceptionally boring. I shared an office with the medical biller and mostly waited for the phone to ring (occasionally in search of bunk beds, which the skilled nursing did not have, but Country Oak Furniture sure did). When a new staff person was hired, I made them a name tag with a polaroid camera, a typewriter, and a laminating machine. Payroll took me three hours, twice a month. I wasn’t permitted to bring my own reading material, and my computer did not have internet, so I took to reading the nursing medication and dosing manuals. ICD-9 coding books. After work I was also volunteered and picked up odd jobs, like concessions at Camp Jeep, but the pickings were slim in a town occupied principally by bootstrappers who had walked from distant lands, lived in rented out garages, and worked industriously at making life better.
I was bored. So terribly bored.
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