tires cannot defeat me

Fact: a few weeks ago, I had a flat tire and needed to put a spare on to drive it to the shop. Everyone said "oh, Emily, you definitely need to call some boys to help you out with this." But you know what I said? "I am a strong, independent woman and I am capable of changing this tire all on my own, thank you very much!" Actually, no I didn't say that...I went to get my phone to call boys ASAP, but then a thought occurred to me. If I could change a tire, a task utterly foreign to me, I could probably do anything. And so, after channeling my inner Beyonce, I decided to make it happen.

This is not a make-believe story. This is real. I got the spare out of my trunk. I read directions in my car pamphlet (yeah, weird). I jacked the car up BY MYSELF. I took the flat tire off and put the spare on. And I did it without any help from males (or any help in general). And then I drove it to the car place and practically gushed to the male mechanic about how awesome I was that I changed the tire all on my own. It made me feel pretty invincible. Now when I think to myself that I'm incapable of doing something, all I have to remember is the flat tire and then I'm reminded that I'm practically a superhero.

Take that, boys.

photographic proof: (credit to LAP for snapping this evidence)

the flat

me with an iron tool thingy that turns those tight knob whatcha-ma-callits on the tire

in action

p.s. whenever I think of this story, I think of myself saying "tires cannot defeat me", which makes me think of that Dane Cook joke where he says that and he talks about someone getting hit in the face with a tire at a race and it is HILARIOUS...you know what I'm talking about?