The Apple Cart

One change can upset the apple cart. This is an old expression that still holds true. Yesterday my father had a doctor appointment. It was made for the afternoon when his aide would be with him. The taxi ride was made for two hours after her arrival to have a safe time frame. Unfortunately, the aide called in sick. The replacement aide was told to get to his house at 2pm. The taxi was for 2:30pm. The aide got lost and wound up walking around in 92 degree heat a mile away. The taxi came. The aide was not there. The agency got involved. My dad took the taxi alone. The aide had to take 2 buses to get to the doctor's office to meet him. A whole turmoil happened because someone called in sick at the last moment.

Hiding Spot

Sometimes I am too neat. Everything has its place, but sometimes I forget where that place is. I know what I want but I cannot remember where I put it. That is happening to me today. I have some beautiful stationary and I wanted to print something on it. Too bad I forgot where I put it. If I was not looking for it, it would be in plain sight. Since I am searching for it, it is hiding. I searched where it should be, with the rest of my paper and it is not there. After work, I will look where it should not be and I am sure that I will find it.

Accommodate

If someone is nice you will accommodate their request. When I opened my work mail yesterday, there was a letter from my newest receptionist. She works from 3:30 - 8pm, four days a week. She was requesting to work from 5:30 - 8pm on those days. Normally I would say no because who would cover the desk for the two missing hours? She relocated from Florida to New York with two children and is a single mother. She is a hard worker with the most pleasant demeanor. She moved in with a friend until she found a place of her own. The neighborhood was not a nice one and she did not want her daughters to be there. She has been trying to find her own place but does not have enough money. For whatever reason, and  no one is prying, she is now in a homeless shelter. She was offered a full time job and wants to supplement her income with 10 hours at my office. We all had a meeting and decided to rework the shifts to accommodate her. She is that nice. My boss might create a full time position in the next few months for her. She is an employee worth keeping so we are making sure that we can help her stay.

Last Impression

You could do 99 nice things and 1 nasty thing. The one nasty thing is what will be remembered for a long time. After having a wonderful pool season, we gathered together for one last day. The weather was perfect. People came with snacks and drinks. We swam, sunned ourselves, ate and talked. Just before it was time to pack up and leave, one of the group members decided to do something funny. He moved his chair in front of the "town kvetch's" chair. We all thought this was funny because she fought with strangers all summer over their chairs being too close to hers. When she came out of the pool we all waited for her to laugh. Instead she got all huffy and whisked her chair away, grumbling. We all said that it was a joke but she raved on and on about her unhappiness at the unwelcome chair sitting near her chair. The man apologized to her but she did not accept the apology. His wife apologized to her and she was still unrelenting in her anger. Everyone looked at each other, shook their heads and went on with the last bit of the afternoon. When we packed up to leave and said our final goodbyes, all that was remembered of this lady was her bad attitude at the end of the summer. When it comes time for a summer reunion, her name will not be on the list.

Swan Song

Today is summer's swan song. The final hurrah after a long, hot summer. Even though the actual season still has weeks to go, the last day of the pool season marks the end of summer for me. My mother used to say, "It's going to be a good summer", and it was. I rested my mind and body after a long winter and spring. My sorrow was compartmentalized for private moments. In public I allowed myself to enjoy the days. Tomorrow things go back to a regular schedule. It is amazing how fast ten weeks flew by.

Sunny Days

According to the weather channel, it is supposed to be cloudy all day. Unless I am living in an alternate universe, I see the sun. All week I charted the weather because it is the last week of the pool season. All week I saw clouds and rain. Each day the sun shined brightly. I guess it just shows me to never believe anything unless I see it with my own eyes.

Cloud Watcher

This is the last pool weekend and the weather looks bad. The forecast is for cloudy weather and thunderstorms on Monday. I keep looking at the sky in hopes of the sun breaking through. If it is not pool weather at least one of the day this weekend, no one will have said their summer goodbyes. The final weekend at the pool is for last minute bonding that will carry us through the winter. It is a time for the summer photo shoot. So far, in over 30 years, we have not missed that. Maybe the power of my stare will part the clouds.