My Very Bad, Awful, Trying Day

DISCLAIMER: This is a really wordy post with NO photos to break it up. Sorry!!

Yesterday, I was driving through a parking garage in downtown Indianapolis in my company's mini van. I was reminded of the last time I was in the very same van in a different parking garage in downtown Indianapolis.

I refer to that day as my "Very bad, awful, trying day!"

I was trying to find an image to illustrate how I felt that day and came up with this...

That sums up the day.

It started out with me being uber-stressed because I was getting ready for an event that I was partly in-charge of making sure went off without a hitch (or at least not a major one).

I rushed out of work to head downtown to scope out the lay of the land - skipping lunch because I was too busy and too stressed to eat.

I loaded up our almost new mini-van and went on my merry way. This was at the end of January and we had had snow on the ground since early December but the day was clear and sunny so no worries there...or so I thought.

I was tooling down the road, talking on my cell phone (yes, I know that's bad - at least I wasn't texting) when I felt the first one hit my hand.

A drop of water...that's weird. I brushed it off and kept talking.

A few minutes later, another drop of water and another. I looked up and the fabric around the sunroof looked damp. I then ran my finger across it (big mistake) and indeed it was wet.

Interesting, I thought.
As I pulled into the parking garage, I felt a few more drops, this time on my lap. I was driving in a parking garage talking on the phone with my BFF. (I needed a laugh and she can get me going more than anyone else.) I was telling her about the drip, drip, drip and not really paying attention to what I was doing. This spelled disaster.

Before I know it, I'm going the WRONG WAY in the parking garage as my skirt is soaked by a continuous flow of water from the van ceiling. At this point, I'm almost in tears. I think my BFF was laughing at my pain. This did NOT amuse me.

It's awful. It's terrible. I want my mommy!

Finally, I decide to heck with this garage (after coming face-to-face with a car going the RIGHT way in the garage) and I pay my $4 and escape to the garage next door which I know how to navigate. I park the van, beg my coworker to come switch me vehicles and make my way to my meeting.

Remember, my skirt is soaked and looks as if I had an accident - a BIG ONE - and I had to walk about 5 minutes to my destination and of course, it was in a busy area.

So, I get to the conference room and realize that I brought the WRONG bag and had to go back to the van for my stuff. Luckily, a very nice guy working the event with me offered to go back to the van with me and help me carry my stuff.

He asked if I had a cart and I said "no problem, I came prepared." Well, we get to the van and I go to gather my stuff from the front as he unloads the heavy boxes onto the cart I so smartly brought with me.

He - being the smart man he is - hesitantly asked me if I had checked the tires on the cart. Nope, they rolled fine when I loaded it into the van. Well, put some weight on it and wa-la flat as can be!

I almost lost it then. Luckily, my nice companion quickly loaded the boxes back in the van, took my key and ran off to get his cart to finish the job.

Luckily, the day got better...my skirt dried, the run-through went OK and a co-worker arrived with a Coke Zero, waffle fries and 4 small bottles of booze.

Is that a friend or what? Now, I didn't break into the bottles then and there, but I thought about it!

Well, the waffle fries and Coke Zero perked me up and I got through the rest of the day without a hitch (the next day went well too). I even was lucky enough to spend an evening with two great gal pals and Roger Thurow, the keynote speaker for the next day's event.
Roger was a Wall Street Journal columnist for many years and has spent the last several years writing a book or two) on hunger, Africa and its farmers. The man is a wealth of knowledge and I enjoyed his insights. I am planning a post about the dinner soon but here are some hightlights:

• HUNGRY FARMERS - that is a phrase we should NEVER hear.
• We should let Africans - nations and farmers - decide how they want to farm. The EU and US should quit fighting the biotechnology battle over there.
• Much of the crop in Africa is lost before it gets to market because of poor storage methods.
• Many African farmers still scatter their corn across the field like they are feeding chickens - NOT plant it in rows.
• The Figlmuller in Vienna has great Schnitzel. (Sorry he lived in Vienna for years and I'm going soon and I had to ask.)

And that was my very bad, awful, trying day...

“It is an amazing thing, the difference to one’s powers of concentration a pair of comfortable shoes can make.”
― Laurie R. King