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An Inconvenient Lesson

So this week has been one full of inconveniences and annoyances, some minor, others not so much.  The funny thing is they all started out with me having the best of intentions of doing something nice, and ended up making me look pretty ridiculous instead.  It all started Monday, when I thought I'd bring in lunch for my work meeting.  What was meant to be one two-foot sandwich turned into two of the most massive meat-filled sandwiches I've ever seen, neither of which turned out to be very tasty, and which turned out to be more expensive than expected.  Then there was Wednesday, when I was scheduled to make a presentation to my Director.  It turned out to be a technical nightmare, with me unable to get the document to appear on the overhead display, and finally having to print copies for everyone, forcing the presentation to start 25 minutes late.  There was also Thursday, when I drove some of the co-workers downtown for the team lunch at the fancy restaurant.  I found a great parking spot in front of the restaurant, but the meter did not work.  We tried to feed the coins, but the time never started.  We finally gave up, only to come out two hours later to find that I had been given a parking ticket.  Finally there was today when I was supposed to host Sidney's birthday breakfast.  The power went out at 6:45, and after calling the power company, I was told it would not be back on for several hours, meaning a last minute dash to find another venue.  Thankfully, Diana took one for the team and offered to host at her place instead.

Finally, running late, power still out (meaning a shower in the dark), I left for Diana's.  My windshield was pretty dirty, so I went to spray the windows.  Lo and behold, the washer fluid was not working even though I had refilled it yesterday.  Let's just say that by that moment I was practically in melt-down mode.  I got on the freeway, driving a bit "aggressively", and got frustrated at the driver in front of me who was going under the speed limit.  (Hello, didn't he realize I was in a hurry?!)  As soon as I could, I passed him on the right, and looked over to give him the evil eye.  Imagine my horror, when I looked over and realized that the person I was tailgating and giving the evil eye to was none other than Joe J. Christensen, emeritus General Authority, and my former college president at Rick's.  By then I was far past the meltdown of all the annoyances that had piled up, to the meltdown of what a horrible person I was, and how I could never be forgiven for giving the evil eye to a General Authority.

We live in a pretty stressful world sometimes, and there's days where, even with the best of intentions, things just don't work out.  It may sound cliche, but I guess the thing to do is not give in to the meltdown and to roll with the punches.  When I look back on it, things seemed to sort themselves out.  

With the sandwiches, it was an opportunity to share with the whole team, which they all seemed to enjoy.  

My Director was not bothered at all by the technical snafu of the presentation.  In fact, she took it better than I did. 

The parking ticket could have been worse, and my co-workers all offered to chip in to pay it.

The breakfast at Diana's turned out wonderful.  The power came back on this afternoon, and now here I am, sharing it all with you in a room with the lights on, and a working computer.

And...the Lord will forgive me for my bad form with Elder Christensen.  Lesson learned.

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