A Karmic Beep

/ roughwighting

Karma, husband and wifeI don’t know if I believe in Karma.

I’m not even sure what Karma is.

But, I am absolutely positive that I experience Karma this week.

It all begins with a smirk.

My guy needs to travel for a few days of business.

He’s the one in charge of our two gardens – one outside and one on the deck – and he is inordinately worried that I can’t possibly water the gardens – his gardens – correctly while he’s away.

garden, gardeing, watering the gardenSo, he asks me, in the sweetest way possible, to walk outside and watch him hose.

Now, to me, that’s like asking a person to watch a blade of grass grow.

Or, perhaps, like watching golf on T.V.

So, politely, I refuse.

I figure anyone knows how to hose a garden. But still, my guy insists, so I sigh (non-politely) and listen to his instructions on how to turn the hose nozzle “just so.”

I know he catches my smirk after I leave the gardens and his instructions 15 minutes later. But. Still. I promise my gardener-guy that I’ll do a good job … after I lecture him about treating me as if I’m clueless, powerless and spineless, unable to deal while he’s away.

This is where Karma knocks on my door and says, “Yoo Whoo!”

My guy leaves the house at 6 a.m. the next morning. At 8 a.m. on the dot, I hear a sharp short B E E P as I’m writing at my desk.

What? Oh no, it can’t be.

I ignore the sound and continue to type.

B E E P!

Knowing what the sound really means, I decide instead that somehow a bird has found a way into our home.

I check every screen at every window.

No openings.

No bird. But I know that.

B E E P!

Finally, I laugh (a bit bitterly) and acknowledge what’s happening.

One of our smoke alarms has a weak battery.

That alarm will beep, obnoxiously, until I find a way to disable it.

I have no idea how to do that…

Karma is getting her revenge.

I race around the house searching for each of our many smoke alarms, some on high ceilings. Which one is beeping?

B E E P!

The beep is driving me slowly crazy. Well, maybe not so slowly.

So…. I text my guy.

Oh, yes, I do.

And when he gets out of his business meeting, he calls and walks me through the process slowly, gently, nonjudgmentally. He listens virtually as I move the chair, standing under each alarm before figuring out which one is proclaiming…

B E E P!

Together, we discover the recalcitrant alarm. With my guy’s instructions, I release the “patch” that hides the battery, wiggle it out, and replace it.

The BEEP is dead.

Long live KARMA.

garden, deck garden

80 thoughts on “A Karmic Beep”

  1. Oh Pam, this is brilliant – hilarious frankly! You really do turn the uncomfortable into humour soooo well, like a Fairy Godmother with her wand. You DO have a wand, right?. Karma has SUCH a sense of humour, wouldn’t you say? Bless your sweet Guy – he could have rubbed that one in couldn’t he – but maybe he knows Karma works best when the one being visited is left to listen to it clearly all by themselves 🙂 Lots of love to you, Harula xxx

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  2. I can just imagine this happening to me. What comes around, goes around. Glad you sorted out the beep. My issue usually happens with the remote when hubby is not here. Drives me mad!!

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  3. Hilarious! But those smoke alarm beeps can be very annoying. They sound like a cricket in the house. I hope you remembered to water the plants correctly! 🙂

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  8. Life is so full of those wonderful opportunities to see our foibles and be present to them with grace, and humour! And you so beautifully tell the story of karmic awakenings!

    The garden looks beautiful!

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  10. Haha, I had a similar experience. That beeping is the most annoying thing! I hope you took extra special care of the garden after that. 🙂

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  11. Haha! Of course, if he hadn’t been wasting your time on “Watering 101”, you could have attended the lecture on “Batteries for Beginners.”

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  13. Isn’t that wonderful? I love how that works, and we learn so much about life, ourselves, and others when we pay attention to those karmic moments. I hope you are watering appropriately, Pam. No skimping! 😀

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  14. Maybe it is a bit of karma, Pam. I currently have the BEEP problem. The bigger problem is I can’t reach the smoke alarm b/c I’m too short. I need taller friends. (Whoever thought of putting it at the tippy top of the ceiling is just pure evil.) Good luck with the watering.

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  16. I laughed out loud until I got to the alarm part. I hate it when that beep comes one. Every time, I have to go get the instruction manual, find the right page of way too many options, and then simply punch in the right numbers that will stop the cricket beep until the next time. But yeah, isn’t karma a funny thing.

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  18. I can’t help be giggle. Been there. Done that. On both sides of the karma equation. Another entertaining story with some valuable life lessons embedded inside. May your various gardens, physical and metaphorical, bloom with karmic inspiration 🙂 Well done, Pam – thanks for sharing!

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  19. What is my husband doing at your house? Karma seems to have cloned him. He can be annoying as hell, can’t do any task by himself, gives annoying detailed instructions as if I am an idiot (which I guess I am when you consider my ADD), asks me to repeat the instructions, again like I am an idiot, however, if I get lost on the road and go into anxiety mode – he is on the phone with me until I get to my destination directing me step by step.

    I couldn’t find my insurance card when I went to an appointment with a new doctor. I called him from the examining room and told him I was having an anxiety attack because I couldn’t find my card. I react this way when I have to do something new and have not fully prepared myself. He told me not to worry, he would call the clinic and give them the information. When I was leaving, the clerk told me that I was all set, my husband had called and taken care of everything. When the chips are down, he is the person I want by my side.😍

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  22. You are so lucky!! Your Karma lesson came during daylight hours. Mine came at 3 am – in the form of a beeping smoke alarm. An hour and a half later, with the help of Mr Google, I figured out how to disable that wretched piece of technology :/

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  24. Those smoke alarms can drive a person crazy. And if you don’t find and fix them soon enough and they start screaming, then they’re truly alarming. So nice you were able to get your husband on the phone to give you instructions. I can never remember from one time to the next what to do.

    Did your guy make the karma connection, or did you keep that to yourself?

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    • I think each smoke alarm requires different ministrations to fix them. Thus, we will never be self-sufficient. 😝
      No, my guy did not get the karmic connection until he read this blog. Fortunately, he just smiled.

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  25. Your story was hilarious in points but “struck home” in others. What a patient guy you married, Pam!
    I was ” house sitting” at my good friends’ while they were on vacation last summer. I had a three page paper to read (and I have done this bi-annually for probably 25 years! But she is a fanatic and a teacher.) So, I know how to feed their cats in increments of 1/4 cups x two bowls, feed an 1/8 th cup of fish food to their koi pond dwellers, water inside plants, deck hanging plants and a whole yard of waterings. . .
    I am not making this up! On the first day, I “broke” a plastic latch on one of their double stainless steel refrigerator doors. I had to carefully open the one that I didn’t break.
    The stupid battery thingy happened in their Great Room. Yup! A large ladder from the garage had to be hauled in.
    Not sure why? but Karma caught up to me twice in one summer. My purse stolen from by my feet last summer at library, with a tall man, using his feet to get it and then using backpack to take it. It was caught on surveillance tape but NO money or compensation from him nor the Victim’s funds. (Filed under prosecuting attorney since glasses and cell phone plus gift cards still unused were adding up to over $1000.
    I am trying to be ever so gentle and careful this year not to rub anyone or any living thing “wrong.” 😉

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  26. I love how the universe (karma) weaves our destinies in small, seemingly unimportant ways. And yet, these moments have the power to influence our thoughts, attitudes and directions. Lovely post.

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  27. Good job watering the plants. They look beautiful!! Next year install a “drip line” and you won’t have to do a thing!!! I finally had them installed in my window boxes and love them!!! Soon it will be fall and I can give up my daily watering of my many flower pots!!!

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  28. This is so funny, and yet so true! How is it that the minute we remind our husbands that we are not nearly as stupid as well look, we find out that we absolutely need their advice on handling something very simple? And then realize that they aren’t trying to treat us as if we are stupid, they’re just trying to explain exactly how they want something done. As karma likes to point out, time and time again. Excellent post!

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  29. I hate that beep, I have been known to take the alarm down but have have never put it up again. My man will do that. I totally agree with Ann’s comment above mine. Another great story, I love them Pam.

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    • You’re sweet, Gerlinde. Even more than those luscious desserts you post on your blog! I bet your man loves helping you out with the alarm – just make him another torte. 🙂 xo

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  31. This story made me chuckle, Pam. 🙂 I used to be so picky about how my husband did things to help me out when I was sick or away. To the point where now he is afraid to touch the washing machine. Even though I’ve changed. Interdependence is the name of the game! 🙂

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    • Well, my guy is afraid to touch the washing machine, and yet I’ve done nothing but encourage him to do so. :-0 I think I’ve gotten less particular as I’ve “matured.” Interdependence and cooperation are a happy mix, for sure.

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  33. Karma- the great teacher. I believe in that saying, “What goes around comes around.” Glad you were able to replace the batteries- you don’t want those to die.

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    • I know we should be grateful for that alarm ‘beep’ so we know to replace the batteries and be safe.

      I’m trying to be grateful, but I wish those batteries would use better timing. 🙂

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  35. Graciousness goes such a long way.

    The smoke alarm chirps annoy the heck out of me. But I’d rather run around with a ladder looking for the electronic crickets than watch golf on TV. Any day of the week.

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  36. Oh I’m a BIG believer in Karma! I have experienced it and seen it in action WAY too many times NOT to believe in “what goes around, comes around” I think it is actually a good thing! Mostly… until it happens to me! LOL! 😉

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