Today I’m 44.

Yesterday I spent a lot of time thinking about how I wanted to spend my birthday, where I wanted to go to eat dinner, who could and could not join us. It all felt very important.

Then my day took an unexpected turn.

At 4:15 yesterday afternoon my son left home in our old Jeep to go to work.

At 4:25 he called to say he was turning left at an intersection not too far from our home when he lost control of the car, skidded across the road and jumped the curb. In the process one of the tires came off the rim. As he was talking to me I could hear strangers stopping to ask if he was OK and if he needed help.

Fortunately, one of those people happened to be my next door neighbor Melissa, who stopped, in the rain, to help him change the tire.

Unfortunately, at 4:45 he walked through the front door. Turns out a lug nut broke off and the car was going to have to be towed.

Fortunately, the AAA tow truck was only half an hour away.

Unfortunately, since I did not have my AAA card on me, I had to be the one to wait with the car. In the rain.

Fortunately Melissa drove me to the car and waited with me — and she ended up giving me the best birthday present ever.

“Poor me,” I complained. Money was tight and now we had a repair staring us down (not to mention the tow bill). I didn’t know how I was going to get to work the next day, or get Rosie to school, and how could my son lose control pulling away from a complete stop? Plus, my birthday was tomorrow.

Waa waa waa.

Thanks heavens for friends like Melissa, who remind you that all new drivers have lessons to learn, some harder than others. More importantly, she reminded me that what was really important was that my son was safe and unharmed.

After the tow truck left, I walked home in the rain and didn’t mind it one bit. Gone was all the self-pity, replaced by nothing but gratitude. My son was safe, my car was fixable and I have great friends.

Who needs anything more than that?