You Talkin' To Me Mister?

So I woke up grouchy and tired this morning only to discover there was no cream for my coffee and another leak had appeared in my ceiling. After moaning and bitching to my dog Max, who was a captive audience and took it in stride, I left for work.

My car radio has been out of commission for some time now and so I'm used to talking to myself while driving, but today the material inside the roof finally gave up and decided to become unglued thus coming to rest on my head and around my shoulders. I probably could've tolerated this inconvenience had I consumed my usual amount of caffeine but being the wimp that I am I can't drink my coffee without cream and sugar so I continued my ranting and raving all the way to school.

A crazy woman draped in gray material carrying on a heated conversation with no one but herself, now that must have been an interesting diversion for the rest of the daily commuters who, I'm sure did have cream for their coffee.

Well, the rest of the day progressed in the same sort of manner, parents too demanding, kids too needy, shoes too uncomfortable and hours passing too slowly. Mind you, none of this had anything at all to do with my frame of mind or me. How could it? I absolutely never take my problems to school with me. I'm a professional after all and no one knows better than I do the importance of a positive attitude.

After a grueling day I just couldn't wait to spend the next four hours tutoring so I jumped in the car, donned the gray shroud and headed off. OK, so maybe I wasn't exactly whistling while I worked but today those high school kids were exceptionally annoying with their "whatever" attitudes. The thing is that I pride myself in my ability to be encouraging and patient, so I knew I couldn't be at fault here. I mean we all know that teenagers are always guilty and if not on this particular day, than yesterday or tomorrow for sure. Shouldn't they have been eagerly awaiting my every word?

You can imagine how thrilled my husband was to see me dragging myself in the door. So what if the first words out of my mouth were, "The roof is leaking, my car ceiling is falling, I have no cream for my coffee and did you make me something for dinner?" His response was something smug like, "Oh, I'm fine thanks. My day was all right. I bought cream and there's spaghetti on the stove." I know he was just trying to rob me of the right to end my day just as I'd started it. Men can be so selfish and inconsiderate. Why is it always about them?

Licking my wounds, and feeling perfectly content to bring this day to a close in my well deserved" the world owes me a living mood," I headed for bed. I decided to visit Inditer dot Com before retiring and this is where I made yet another mistake. Maybe I thought I'd just check to see if someone had written something with the sole purpose of pissing me off and then my day would have been complete.

And lo and behold there was Donald Grant DeMan's inspirational, caring, thought provoking, loving, unselfish, wonderful essay. Could it be that he was in cahoots with my husband?

Anyway, I was forced to go to bed feeling a little more humble and a lot more appreciative. Whatever happened to the good old days when we walked five miles to school in the snow, bought a coke for a nickel and spent hours wallowing in self-pity? I tell ya, things just ain't what they used to be.

Thank you Donald Grant for "Reflections". I needed it!

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