Thank you, TSA!

Last month I took my car in for service. When I was next at the grocery store, I discovered that the dash button that pops open the trunk no longer worked. Despite my energetic and increasingly forceful efforts, it has continued to do nothing ever since.

We resorted to opening the trunk with the key or the button on the key fob.

I would occasionally consider calling the mechanic, but inertia is a fearsome foe, especially when it tag-teams with its twin sister, procrastination.

I went to pick up a friend from the airport today. As I sat parked in the cell phone lot, I was thinking about how I'd have to turn off the car to open the trunk. The key fob button doesn't work when the key is in the ignition - another thing we have discovered in the past month - so unless I popped the trunk in the parking lot and drove very carefully to the terminal, there wasn't much choice in the matter.

As I sat there imagining getting yelled at by the airport security force, a thought snuck up on me. It had evidently been lurking in the dark recesses of my mind, waiting for the perfect moment to appear.

I paused for a millisecond or two while the memory flashed past, then leaned right over to the glove box, flung it open, and peered inside. It didn't take long to find what I needed. I pushed a button, sat back up and punched the trunk release.

And it worked!


Five and a half years ago, a car salesman had pointed out the little button that shuts off trunk access, so that those snoopy valet parking folks can't see just how unorganized your life really is and judge you for the messy state of your trunk. Or, you know, steal anything you might have stored there. Ahem.

Having never used this feature, I had forgotten about it until the threat of airport security forced it to the surface.

I may never say this again, but today it comes from the heart: Thank you, TSA!