Life is one big adventure.  One thing leads to another and before you know it, you are on this wild escapade wondering where and when it will end.  That is exactly what happened when I set out for a drive on a beautiful sunny afternoon.

The temperature was perfect, the skies were blue.  Traffic flowed beautifully as I maneuvered through busy city streets.   All was well, in fact, almost too good to be true.  That was when things began to happen.

There were no signs or audible noises to alert me that anything was about to go wrong.  My car was purring happily  down the road when all of a sudden, the ‘Check Engine’ light came on.  This always causes alarm for me since it means that something is wrong.  I mentally tuned in to my car’s performance and noticed nothing unusual.  There was no smoke coming from under the hood and my car did not sputter or chug along as if it were ill.  Everything seemed fine and then something else happened.  The ‘Brake’ warning light came on, a bright red icon with exclamation mark that demanded my attention.  Shortly after that, the ‘ABS’ warning light came on, signalling there was something wrong with my anti-lock braking system.  Dread loomed over me like a black cloud as I anticipated something very bad about to happen.  I held my breath for what was to come and sure enough, something else did happen.

My speedometer stopped working.  It registered zero kilometres per hour as I kept pace with traffic.  Then my fuel gauge began to fluctuate wildly, jumping up and down by quarter tank increments.  By now, I was totally bewildered and had pulled over to inspect under the hood.  Perhaps some aliens had taken over my vehicle and were testing its suitability for space travel.  I braced myself as I opened the hood.  There were no obvious signs of anything wrong, no little green men scurrying about, no evidence of an alien master plan, or anything else for that matter.

It may have given me some peace of mind to at least have seen an alien or two, but that was not the case.  As I returned to the driver’s seat and started up the engine, the warning lights disappeared.  As I started driving, my speedometer returned to working order as did the fuel gauge.  Even though the earlier chaos brought great concern, the fact remained that my car still purred happily.  As I continued to drive along, I concluded that sometimes, warning signs are just that: warning signs.

We all receive warning signs from time to time in life and they may not come from your vehicle.  They might come from an odd sensation within your body or a gut feeling when something just does not feel right.  We can either ignore warning signs or heed them and respond in a timely manner.  Each of us will respond differently, depending on the situation and our frame of mind.  Follow up is always wise since an ounce of prevention is truly worth a pound of cure.  But, if you choose to ignore a warning sign, beware of the risks and pay attention in the future.  The bottom line is that you want to prevent any large-scale catastrophes from occurring.  Although there will always be adventures in life, we can all do our part to avoid the white-knuckled, hair-raising type of adventure that takes our breath away.

As for my car, I figured that the chances of being overtaken by aliens was relatively low and therefore, continued on with my journey,  keeping one eye on the instrument panel and an ear towards my engine … and the next time I see my mechanic, I will get him to check it out.