"You Had a Bad Day..."

Have you ever had a day where you feel as if you've escaped the guillotine with a few split hairs?? Friday was that day for me.

I've started a new job and I'm still getting used to getting somewhere on time. Rushing in the morning I grab my breakfast to go...homemade breakfast burrito with a dollop of sour cream, cut up on a plate, a fork stuck in the middle. First mistake.

The kids are scrambling over each other and yipping like a boxful of puppies trying to get into the van. Where's Laura's other shoe? I stumble out of the car again and head back into the house to locate the missing shoe. The clock is counting down and I feel each passing minute like a hammer blow. Going to be late!! Panic-driven I grab ANY shoes and head out to the car.

"Not those shoes, mommy!" Of course. Her eyes well up and I try to change the subject by asking what she's going to do at gramma's today. Meantime, the boys are finally buckled in, and I'm careening around corners and rolling through stop signs to get to gramma's house in record time. My tires are barely stopped before I'm unbuckling kids and sending them out the sliding door and up the driveway. Once the last one hits her front door I'm backing out and pushing the 25 mph speed limit out of there.

Gritting my teeth at the geriatric drivers in front of me who are afraid they might hit something...(like the speed limit?)...I finally make it out to the 'main' road. Where I promptly drop a forkful of hot, sour cream-covered burrito down the front of my BLACK dress pants and top. De-LIGHT-ful.

Up ahead a train is across the tracks. FAN-TAS-tic. As I reach into my purse for baby wipes, and scrub furiously at my clothes, I slow to stop for the train...directly into the bumper of the car ahead of me. Nice.

Still swiping ineffectually at the hopeless smear on my outfit I apologize profusely as the elderly gentleman hobbles around to the back of his car to view the damage. Fortunately, there isn't any damage distinguishable from the other dents on his bumper. He grins and says "It's an old car anyway, and it looks fine to me...seems you're havin' a bad 'nuf day anyway!!" Great. Thanking him sincerely I rush back to my van and put it in drive before the door's even closed...the train's off the tracks and I'm trying not to be late!

Two strikes.

I drive the speed limit, white-knuckled...sure that if I speed, my third stroke of bad luck will be a policeman, and that is one I cannot afford.

"Thump"...

Hit a squirrel. Strike Three.

Made it to work with two minutes to spare. Triple counted my money all day. Should have bought a lottery ticket with all that bad luck out of the way!!


PS...

Funny thing was, I stopped at Publix for milk on the way home. Guess who was bagging my groceries?? The kindly old gentleman I rear-ended in the morning. He recognized me, and I sheepishly asked him if his day had been better since the morning. Sigh. No more eating breakfast in the car. No more leaving at the last minute. Poor squirrel....