It All Balances Out

Here are ten things that happened that reminded me that even though a day might start out badly, it can end up ... goodly?... okay, it can get much better.

1. The cat woke me up at 5:00 by yowling insistently. The reason? She had to pee. The problem? I'd shut the door tight instead of leaving it ajar. Eventually she shut up.

2. The reason she shut up? She peed. On the bed. Right next to my head. Serves me right.

3. Because of #2, I had to do three loads of laundry before I left for work. (Sheets, then blanket, then mattress pad. The mattress pad was still washing and the sheets still drying when I left for work. The blanket was draped over the washer and dryer to air dry.)

4. I diligently packed a lunch, then left it on the kitchen table.

5. Had to gas up the car on the way to the Metro station. No problems doing it, but I had to leave early to get it done in time to catch the train in time to make the company shuttle.

6. Even so, I missed the early train. (But at least the Metro actually worked this morning! For the last two days, the red line was broken and I was stuck on the train for over an hour.)

7. Because I missed the early train, I missed the shuttle by two minutes. So I stayed on the train to the next station.

8. At the station, the long, long, long escalators from the platform to the street entrance were stopped. All of them. The elevator is on the platform, so to take it, I would have had to go back through the turnstile, down to the platform, and out the far end to the elevator; thus paying twice. So I looked at the escalator -- now steps -- and took a deep breath. I started counting the steps a couple seconds after I started the arduous climb to the top. I made it to 60 when I had to stop and rest. I regretted my decision to save money and flirted with the idea of turning around and going back down, but it was pretty much one way -- up. The middle escalator was closed off and the third escalator was pretty much one way down. So I waited until I could breathe normally and continued, one step at a time. Around step 80 I thought I saw a bright white light beckoning me from above. At step 85, I rested again and wondered why Metro hadn't built rest areas with free coffee beside the escalators. At step 112, I stopped counting, but I could see the top! I summitted shortly thereafter. I hung on to the railing as I made my way to the exit.

9. The exit elevator was working - glory, hallelujah! I immediately walked to the bus shelter and sat to wait for the bus, because I was not walking one step more than I had to.

10. This afternoon at lunchtime I had a phone interview with the hiring manager of a company I'm interested in joining. It went very very well. Very well indeed. So well that the manager wants to meet me in person.

And suddenly all the strife of the morning disappeared in a puff of smoke -- it's a good day after all!