(Photo of Aislinn with Kat and Murv (M.R. Sellars) at the Samhain 2006 Florida Pagan Gathering. She’s about 6 inches taller now and can’t wait to reconnect with friends in Ocala )
6:08 PM I’m laughing all the way home. I have four new special-order tires, a complete re-alignment, and a hole in my purse, but I’m happy. I’ll mow the yard when I get home, fetch groceries for camping, and finish my book project tonight with time to spare in the morning to finish packing for our trip to Altoona for the Florida Pagan Gathering this weekend. Only two hours ago, the trip had been iffy thanks to a hole in one tire that turned out to be holes in 3 tires with an already-patched fourth. But the ride home is smooth and wonderful, and I feel great, and at mid-day Thursday, we’re hitting the road! I’m feeling some major mojo effects!
6:02 PM The manager at the tire store shakes his head and tells me he’s amazed. He can’t believe I’m back in the store after I had to leave empty-handed this morning with bad news that I’d taken so in-stride. But he’s happy about the way things turned out and he wishes me a safe trip.
5:55 PM I save my file, turn off my laptop and put it away, put the picture frame back on the wall, return the chairs to their rightful spots, and grab my purse and credit card. The woman in the lobby just looks at me like I’m crazy.
5:50 PM Just as the doctor leaves, a woman with short black hair walks into the lobby. She sees me and does a double-take. I don’t care. I’ve made major progress here with my trusty laptop….
5:45 PM The manager walks into the lobby to give me status on whether my new tires have been put on my car yet and stops cold. He laughs. “You really DID make yourself at home, didn’t you?” I grin back at him and explain that yes, I did, and I even turned off the TV.
5:30 PM I look up from my laptop in time to see a local ER doc walk into the lobby. He looks at me and starts laughing. “You took them seriously when they said to make yourself at home, didn’t you? Wow, I feel really unproductive!” He looks tired, like he’s had a hard day.
4:35 PM I have SOOOO much work to do and I’m determined to make it fast and pleasant tonight. I can’t afford to lose the time I’d spend sitting in this lobby, waiting for them to put new tires on my car. I quickly locate the nearest outlet behind the fridge and coffee machine and plug in my laptop. Then I pull a chair around opposite of the chair I’m sitting in–in a T-shirt and shorts–but it’s too low for a desktop and hunching over hurts my back. I flick off the annoying Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama news bites on CNN and walk across the empty lobby to a huge framed poster of a guy lecturing the audience about the right kind of tire to buy…and move it to my chairs where I place it across the arms as a make-shift desk. Voila! My laptop fits perfectly, along with my papers and USB mouse, and I can be comfy while I work!
4:30 PM The manager takes my car keys and points out the lobby in a very friendly way. “Make yourself at home,” he tells me.
4:10 PM I’m home, working on my book project. I’m a little stressed about how to get everything done and then spend tomorrow morning at the tire shop–IF the tires actually arrive before noon. Either my schedule is about to get blown or the entire trip is, but I’m staying confident. I’ve been visualizing myself dancing around bonfires ever since I got the bad news this morning. Then the phone rings. It’s the manager of the tire shop. “Uh, Lorna?” he says. “I have some very unusual news. You’re not going to believe this…. Your tires were scheduled to come in tomorrow and I was hoping they’d arrive before noon but….uh…they’re here now. The place that we special ordered them from had a guy come through town this afternoon and he said that for some reason, someone put the tires on his truck and told him to bring them down a day early. So if you’re free for the next couple of hours, we can put them on for you tonight instead of in the morning. This is really unusual. I’ve never had this happen before…”
Leave a Reply