Spoilers

 I’m sitting outside on really nice Minnesota July morning, coffee mug at my side and fuzzy dog at my feet, thinking life could be pretty good if this is how every day starts.  Lazing about enjoying the delectable vanilla infused coffee heating up the splash of milk in my cup to create a caramel sensation for my mouth.  Stop the tape.  Stop the Vivaldi sound track in my head. The bugs have found me-those pesky little gnats and tiny flies that land on my neck, the rim of the cup, my nose, and fly at my eyes. I try to ignore but five minutes later I’m back inside, pecking at keys annoyed that my morning was spoiled.  Spoilers, what I’ve defined as those things, situations, statements, and events that bust into a good feeling and chip away at the good times and feelings we try to hold onto.

We started the week with a few good days out of town.  We ate some yummy food, did some good walking, swimming, and biking, slept late, and read for pleasure, all the things that make a getaway a retreat. Then back to work for two days.  I brought on spoiler number one by going through my work e-mails the night before.  This is not the way you slowly transition out of holiday mode.  This is more like crashing back, and letting every work related stress you were trying to leave behind, push the calm from your head with blunt force. The printer was down for two days, the mailing that was supposed to go out on Monday didn’t, and the worst was an implication that I was being made the scapegoat for someone else’s confusion of their work charge. That situation moved beyond spoiler.  I resolved little going through e-mails on Wednesday, other than ensuring I had a lousy night sleep.

I had a really pleasant call with my son while driving home from work, purely for conversation. Mothers of twenty-something sons, living independent lives, can relate.  I made a stop at Target, and scored a great deal on vanilla coffee that was on clearance; 4 bags for only $1.48 a bag (vanilla and hazelnut coffee is a passion of mine if you haven’t yet noticed.) So while I had to jump back into work without a bungee cord, the home front was looking good. Then I walked into the house and read the mail which included news of a financial blow, which while not crippling, will set back some plans we had made.

I had a week that was filled with spoilers. Life is like that, I guess, filled with perks and spoilers. I’d like to think that even on the worst days, there are little bright spots that if not quite overpowering the crud, they shed some light to help manage.  I’ll try to relish in the perks and not letting the spoilers overrun the weekend.  I’ll let the bugs have the deck this morning.  I found a comfy spot inside, and darn if the coffee doesn’t taste just as smooth.