Real Life | Jill Reid

Real Life | Jill Reid

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Real Life | Jill Reid
Real Life | Jill Reid
How to Recognize the Signs of Relationship Decay
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How to Recognize the Signs of Relationship Decay

Is it too late to realign your priorities?

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Jill Reid
Jan 26, 2024
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Real Life | Jill Reid
Real Life | Jill Reid
How to Recognize the Signs of Relationship Decay
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Photo by Alvin Mahmudov on Unsplash

Last week the battery in our car died.

There were a few warning signs — sluggish, slower-than-normal starts when turning the key. Still, the battery’s failure was unexpected.

The reason it came as a surprise? The car is less than two years old.

My husband explained that the vehicle is equipped with tons of electronics and, in his opinion, one of the components had probably gone bad. Apparently, some rogue relay had selfishly continued to draw on the battery, even after the car had been turned off.

The result? No power — no juice in the system.

The battery’s energy had been completely depleted.

For the record, I didn’t take auto shop in school, and I don’t understand all the complexities residing under a car’s hood. Nor do I want to. But I understood the explanation in very practical terms:

We weren’t going anywhere.

My husband’s reluctance to call the dealer and schedule a time to have it repaired concerned me. He rationalized that it would take all day, and there were more important things to do.

I wondered if he hadn’t grasped the concept that — without the car — a lot of those things would remain undone …


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