Sometimes, things just coast along, and then there are those other times…
With work, kids and family, a home and a busy husband, I am forced to do a lot of multi-tasking. The juggling of various responsibilities, however, is not my chosen m.o. and it’s something I’ve had to consciously cultivate as a means of survival.
Usually, I try to be extremely organised, write everything down and keep to a meticulous schedule that usually succeeds in keeping catastrophe at bay. However, the delicate balance that allows my life to function without disaster is disrupted completely by the onset of any unexpected variable.
The events of this past Tuesday and Wednesday are an example of the variables described above.
Tuesday began with my two year-old daughter screeching in pain from her crib, followed by projectile vomiting and a fever. A visit to the pediatrician and some Advil calmed her down and we proceeded with our day. Distraught at her obvious discomfort, I suddenly remembered that a friend had said she would drop by for lunch that day. Unprepared and not wanting to cancel at the last minute, I dropped my son at school and my daughter at the neighbour’s house for a few minutes so that I could run to a nearby deli to pick up lunch. As I left my parking spot with lunch in tow, I miscalculated the room to exit and smashed the front of my car into a nearby pole. Tuesday,1:30pm: sick child, smashed car and a guest on their way to my house.
At this point, I’m still managing to cope (barely) and succeed miraculously in having an enjoyable lunch with my friend (whose vivacious conversation served as a welcome distraction). However, the fragile balance was about to suffer another blow from which it would be harder to recover.
That evening, as my husband was surfing Itunes, our computer crashed – yes, the same computer that permits me to work from home and that houses all my work documents and files. Indeed, the next day I had an important meeting which necessitated the use of my very ill computer. Tuesday, 7pm: sick daughter, smashed car, crashed computer with imminent work responsibilities in potential danger.
Wedneday morning, I woke up at 5:30 to prepare for my meeting in Mississauga. Before leaving, I called 411 to see if there were any 24 hour computer support companies and quickly found 24 Hour Geeks (who are great, by the way – see link below) who said they would send someone to look at our system. Later that evening, a support technician explained to me the damaged state of my motherboard (I’m thinking: Is that like a mothership? What does Star Wars have to do with my desktop?) and advised me that we need… a new computer!
And that, my friends, was the straw that broke the camel’s back. As the kind young technician, who couldn’t have been more than 21, explained to me the efforts that had been made to resuscitate by ailing hard drive, I began to weep quietly. Sitting in front of a complete stranger, my tears hit the floor as the day’s stresses welled up inside of me and demanded to be released.
Oh no!!! I just blogged about the exact same catastrophe (except that I think my hard drive will be spared)! But get this: my laptop AND my desktop died the same week from two completely different reasons! What are the freakish chances? I couldn’t even bear to blog about the desktop hard drive being wiped out, taking my precious photos with it, because I feared the Law of Attraction zealots coming to beat me down, telling me I brought it on myself (I SO did NOT! I wasn’t even thinking about such a catastrophe. I was living my life cheerfully optimistic, as usual.).
AND my whole business is on my laptop too. You can read my mourning blog entry here, a few posts down. http://www.pinkpowersuit.blogspot.com
It’s really nice to meet you.
With the utmost sympathetic angst,
Natasha.
P.S. You were a Crown? My husband is too. 😉
Thanks for the words of confidence, girls – it means alot. things are a little better – daughter seems to be responding to the drugs, I’ve gotten kind of used to the GIGANTIC dent in my car, and am making do with the loaner computer. amreen xoxo
Oh, Amreen. I know how you feel. I remember one time crying hysterically in my car taking solace in my bubble of privacy when I stopped at a stop light and 3 teenage girls were laughing and pointing at me making mock weeping faces. What I learned there is that when you think your’ve hit rock bottom, it can always get just a little worse 😉 Mind you, I stopped crying, pulled up my socks (figuratively of course as I was driving) and went on with my day. Funny thing is, I remember the crying but can’t for the life of me remember why I was so upset. Hope you and yours are feeling better.
It’s probably good that you cried in front of him. I did that with the furnace repair man and he reduced his labour charge. I’ll take the pity discount, please. Hang in there!
i sooo have been there, Amreen!! losing it in front of complete strangers. {hugs} the good news is that it can only get better.
So sorry about your run of bad luck! I totally know how you feel — sometimes it is all a bit much. That is when I like to find something nice to look forward to — an afternoon at the spa, or an overnight get-away with hubbie, sans the kids. Hope the funk passes soon.