Pull up a chair.

This is being posted a little late. Really, this is a story about one of my days last week. Hopefully the entertainment value remains regardless of the timing of the post.

I’m just going to pretend you’re sitting in my living room with me, interest piqued to hear all about my day. Because of course you would be, were you here. Or at least you would be sympathetic. Let me tell you why.

I have had A DAY.

You know, one of those days where everything happens in a span of ten hours. I’m convinced it’s a test, so after returning home from this all-day chaos, I decide I need to think of things to be thankful for. I did OK. First, you must understand why it is a task to think of the thankfuls.

I purposely go to the doctor this morning to get three shots. I suppose in reality I was only going to get two shots, but the third ended up being a necessary part of the plan. The plan being: we go to Ghana at the end of September to visit some friends we made in Amsterdam who are actually Ghanian and are now back in their home country. We are on the waiting list for the Yellow Fever vaccine, so I decide to go ahead and get some other shots while I’m waiting. So, I get my first rounds of Hepatitus A and B as well as a tetanus shot because I’m pretty sure I haven’t had one in quite some time…or ever. Oh, I jest. But it’s really been at least 15 years.

When I come home from the doctor, the clothes dryer in the garage is running. STILL. I realize I had set it at least 45 minutes before I left for the doctor’s office, and after being gone for an hour it is still going. I open the door and find a lot of wet towels. Actually damp towels, since apparently spinning around in a dryer, even with no heat, for hours and hours does do something to advance the drying process.

I decide to use my deductive reasoning skills and put the dryer on a different setting to see if that would improve the situation. Sure enough, 20 minutes later I have warm, dry towels. So, I put the sheets in the dryer. Unfortunately for me, I leave shortly thereafter and am gone for the rest of the day.

An unexpected twist occurs in my afternoon when I suddenly experience severe cramping like I’ve never experienced. I sincerely hope this is due to feminine issues rather than some bad reaction to the shots I received this morning.

While driving home from the pregnancy center where I do counseling, my car begins making an annoying thumping noise. Now, in my defense, the car seems to be running OK and traffic is heavy, so I really don’t want to go to the trouble of pulling off the road and then trying to get back into traffic again. I continue on my merry way. Once on the highway, the noise subsides considerably. I feet better about my selfish decision to keep driving home.

Until, that is, I park the car in the garage and get out. The rear driver’s side tire is completely flat. And I drove all the way home with the tire in this sad state! After calling John (who is out of town this week to boot) to tell him the bad news, I hang up the phone and finally realize the clothes dryer is running. Again – STILL. By this time, it has probably been on for five hours. I open the door yet again and feel no heat coming from the dryer. This time, however, the dryer has been spinning the sheets for so long that they are sufficiently dry.

My husband did a very caring thing by calling our road assistance number and getting someone out to our house within 10 minutes to put the spare tire on my car. (Well, he’s either extremely caring or feeling guilty for not being here on the worst of bad days.) The spare is on the car and I now have an hour to get to the Tire Center for a new tire. By the way, it turns out the tire is flat because someone slashed it with a razor that is now stuck in the tire. Great.

An hour later I am home with all four tires in driving condition and considerably less money in my bank account.

So, the thankfuls. Here we go.

I am thankful that the sheets, which were dried due to constant tumbling for five hours in an unheated dryer, were my last load of laundry for this week. That gives me several days to find a dryer technician (is there such a thing?).

I am thankful that the Advil is finally kicking in and I do not have to go anywhere else tonight. I can just lounge on the sofa and watch The Office. Oh no! The Office isn’t on tonight for some reason. No! OK, I’ll just pop in a movie.

I am thankful that the brilliant person who figured it would be a hoot to slash my tire didn’t have more time or energy to slash all four of my tires.

I am thankful for roadside assistance. And a husband who thinks of little things like calling the 800 number so I don’t have to change my own tire.