When I was a kid, I had a book about Alexander and his horrible, terrible, no-good, very bad day. I used to read it and feel better about my day because it couldn't possibly be any worse than his. Until Wednesday.
I have to preface this with a separate story. Last weekend, my younger son ended up admitted to the hospital with croup. We went to the ER on Sunday morning and were admitted when the doctor didn't think he had improved enough after 2 breathing treatments. Not only did I spend a rough night with him, I had to help restrain him for an IV and 7 breathing treatments. So I was already emotionally and physically drained. Now back to Wednesday.
My doctoral classes have begun and Wednesday I had statistics at 9 am. As I was getting ready I hear my oldest son wake up my husband and it's not even 7 (that is early for him). Almost immediately, I hear him start crying as his request for something was not fullfilled immediately. His crying promptly woke up my younger son. Great.
After a morning full of whining and crying, I finally made it out the door. I have a 45 minute drive so I was concentrating on the highway. Half way there, my mind is wandering, and I look up at my rearview mirror. And it hits me. I don't have my parking pass. Great.
I get to school and park, tossing in a quick prayer not to get a ticket (I didn't, thank goodness!). I grab my bags and started looking for my lunch. It wasn't there. I forgot it. Great.
Starting to get angry and frustrated, I finally make it to my office. Several of my classmates are there talking and they can all sense something is wrong. I just said I was having a bad day and tried to move on. I opened my laptop to check my email. Someone asked me a question so I turned around to face whoever it was. As I turned in my chair, I knocked over my cup and spilled coffee on the keyboard of my laptop. Great.
Fortunately for me, someone else was with it enough to tell me to tip it upside down. I credit her with saving my computer. By this point, I wanted to cry. But I couldn't because it was time for class. I get all of my materials out including pencil and paper to take notes. As I start writing, I hear, snap! My pencil lead broke. I wipe it away and click for a new piece of lead. Ok, I can continue. About 5 minutes later.... snap! Here we go again. A few minutes later... snap! You have got to be kidding me. I did this for three hours! Great.
When class ended, I threw my hands up. I was done. I went home early, had lunch with my husband, and we picked up the boys early for extra play time. You may not remember Alexander when you have a bad day, but maybe you can remember me. A laugh a little bit.
