I think I might've spoken too soon when I wrote on my FB update around three p.m. yesterday that I was having an "awesome 95% percent offline day." Well, it was true that up until that time I was having a good day, or should I rather say, a productive one with my computer off, a far cry from the day before which was a colossal waste and total write-off! But little did I know, that I was going to encounter another snag that was going to put a damper on the rest of my day.
I was all pumped up and determined to go, kids in tow, to our weekly congregation meeting. But when I got to the car, I realized that I had left my purse at home, so I headed back upstairs with Jaden in my arms and Maya trailing behind, to get it. Unfortunately, when I tried to open the door to the condo, alas, it wouldn't open! Sure, I was able to unlock the door with the key, but the handle just wasn't latching or catching, or biting or oh, whatever the proper term is!!! So, after several fruitless attempts, all three of us trekked downstairs again to enlist the help of our concierge. Of course, he wasn't home and neither was any of the people I vaguely know in the building - you know the people you bump into in the elevator every now and then to whom you politely smile & nod and wish "a nice day" to before you part ways? Like the Sri Lankan family who lives down the hall or the interracial couple in 607, or even the "shoe lady" next door. Nope, no one - it was Sunday.
So, I went back to the car in the garage, strenuously hauled the kids' tandem stroller out of the trunk, strapped them in and thought I'd take them to the park to kill some time or to be more exact, the two hours left until Kumar would get home from work - only problem was that I was all coiffed and made-up, dressed in a crisp white Zara blouse and a navy pencil skirt. Plus, I had three-inch heels on, the same ones I had described before - the ones that would cram and contort my feet into the most unnaturally narrow twin peaks, yes those! So there was no way I could make it to the park that was the equivalent of about five blocks away with the mid-July, afternoon sun beating down on us - how dumb would I look anyways??? So finally, deciding against making the arduous trip, I threw my arms up in resignation and feeling utterly dejected, plopped myself onto the decorative bench in the lobby area of our building to wait it out. Maya came up with a novel idea to entertain the three of us. "Mommy," she said, "let's count the leaves of the plants!" she beamed, that flanked the fancy bench. "Sure," I said, and mustering up all of the strength I had left in me, I joined in and feigned some enthusiasm and tried to count the leaves as animatedly as I could with her. Of course, there were only so many leaves to count, especially with Maya skipping her numbers, jumping from 13 to 18 and so on and so forth, and with Jaden no longer finding it to be amusing his game of having me pick up and give back to him the car keys over and over again, there I was locked out of our own house, had missed my meeting, with no money, no phone, with nowhere else to go and with two kids that were getting increasingly restless by the minute....
Why do I make it sound like it was the end of the world? With the world's actual deplorable state of affairs, with the millions of people in far much more dire straights than myself just then, and if I might add, with everything currently going on in my life, you'd think I'd be able to put things into proper perspective. But yesterday, for some reason, I just couldn't see past the unpleasant situation I found myself in....
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