It's Been a Long Week Today

This morning, I was driving through the Wealthy Suburb when I saw what looked like a Great Dane about 200 feet ahead of me. It was bounding across the road at a rapid pace. Behind it was another, then another. As I got a little closer, I realized they weren't dogs but deer. At least 10 in a row ran past me in a sprint for the woods on the other side of the street. I sat, stopped in the road watching them cross only feet away. It seemed like a long time, but they were probably gone in less than a minute.

I wanted to call someone after they passed, but felt silly. Who would really care? Would I interupt someone at work or on their commute just to tell them that?

"A herd of deer just ran in front of my car!"

"Ok. Well. Thanks for sharing. Talk to you later."

So instead, I'm telling all of you. There. Now I've gotten it off my chest.

Of course, in the face of nature at it's purest, I took the practical approach. My second thought (after, "I should call someone!") was, "You know, if I hadn't gotten stuck at that red light back there, they TOTALLY would have wrecked my car."

***
After the herd passed, I switched radio stations and heard the news that Dana Reeve had passed away. This really saddened me. She spent the majority of her adult life dealing with so much, caring for her disabled husband. Less than a year after he passed away, she was diagnosed with cancer. I can't help but think of their poor son. Only 13, and he's had to suffer so many tragedies.

I like to believe that life balances the good with the bad. That, if you've had horrible luck for a while, eventually it turns and you get a good spell. And that the bad is sprinkled around, so that no one person has to bear too much of it.

That's a crock. Life is crappy. And then sometimes, it gets a little crappier. There's no logic in it. I wish I could find some. I'm a logic girl at heart. I hate the unexplained.

***
When I got to work this morning, I hadn't even put my purse down when I was told there was a problem with one of our applications. Someone decided to change something without warning us, and now it wasn't working. We spent a good hour playing defense, trying to get everything fixed without too much interuption for the Important Folks. Always a nice way to start your day.

After things settled a bit, I got back to my desk and the phone rang. My friend was shouting frantically:

"HOW DO YOU RECALL AN EMAIL???"

"What?"

"An email... I shouldn't ... I sent it ... HELP ME! HOW DO I RETRIEVE IT?!"

I walked her through the steps. "The problem is, it isn't usually successful. What happened?"

"I can't talk ... have to go." She hung up on me.

A few minutes later, she called me back.

"IT DIDN'T WORK. I am in so much trouble."

Apparantly she sent an off color joke to a friend. Except she didn't exactly choose her friend correctly in her address book... and she accidentally sent it to hundreds of people on a mailing list. A list of Very Important People, not the type to appreciate that kind of humor.

I couldn't help but laugh at the situation. Obviously, it wasn't very funny to her.

"You know, you send an email about WORK and they don't read it for a month. But send something like this by accident and suddenly they're all workaholics!"

***
I've got PMS like crazy. I've been scrounging around looking for chocolate in any form I can find it. At my most desparate, I resorted to a pack of Sixlets and a lowfat Chocolate Chunk granola bar.

In my typical fashion, it's got me down in the dumps. Lately, I just really really want to go OUT. Nothing crazy, just dinner. Maybe a movie. Something normal people do all the time. But that requires pulling strings and begging for help and practically getting the Secret Service involved.

A big part of the problem is that Jete could care less if we ever leave the house. When it's just me who wants to do something, it hardly seems worth it. It's so much of an effort that I just give up.

I was cleaning up the other day and found a few expired Friendly's coupons someone had given us. Throwing them away depressed the hell out of me. It just reminded me, yet again, that we will never be that typical family. The one you see in the commercials. The one pictured on the website. We'll never be a family who can just pack up the kids and go out to dinner.

I mean, yeah, we could. But we won't. It would be such a hassle to organize Ethan's schedule and moods, and bundle him up and pack up his chair and pack a bag for CG and make sure the place is handicapped accessible and that they have a table with room for us and blah blah blah blah BLAH.

Besides all that, Jete wouldn't enjoy himself. If anyone stared at Ethan, or if CG threw a temper tantrum, or we had to wait for more than 2.7 minutes, he would be miserable. Which would, in turn, make ME miserable.

And really, if I'm going to be miserable, I may as well be at home.

I know Friendly's is junky fast food. And it's way overpriced. And the wait staff is usually anything BUT friendly. And yeah, I can always take CG on my own if I really wanted to go.

But still. It's not the same. And I'm in the mood to feel sorry for myself right now. Wah wah wah. Don't worry. I'll get over it soon enough.

In about 5 to 7 days.