Attack of the 3 Ayem Blues

Yesterday was Monday.

ALL DAY LONG.

Oh yes. I know you know what I mean. It was one of those Mondays when if it could go wrong, it did. There was caffeine consumed. Way too much caffeine. In great quantity. Lots and LOTS of caffeine. LOADS of caffeine.

And I so deserved every drop.

It actually started out to be a calm day. I got up, got dressed, didn't put a run in my hose (a major miracle in and of itself), and got into the tin-can-on-wheels that is my rental car until my car gets out of the shop. I was running a little late, but that was no big deal. Stopped at McD's for my free McCoffee, and decided to get leaded instead of unleaded since I knew I had a lot to do that day. Got to work, got up to my office, and turned on the computer.

That's where it all started to go downhill.

The phone rang. It was the administrative assistant to the person who was supposed to chair a meeting I had planned for lunch time. "Mr. So-and-So won't be able to make the meeting. I'm so sorry!"

Great. Now I had ten people showing up for a meeting with no leader. Wonderful. I finished the first cup of coffee and went to work.

I made some calls and got someone to stand in for Mr. S&S. While it wasn't the perfect solution, it would have to do. Then I got another call.

"His Singer? Did you have the Executive Boardroom scheduled for today? Someone said there was a committee meeting...." Uh, YES. I have had the room booked for over two weeks. Unfortunately, there was a glitch in the reservation system and my reservation had been lost. Fortunately, schedules could be rearranged and I was able to get the room. More coffee.

Thinking things were sinking and sinking fast, I decided to call the caterer just to be sure everything was set.

You guessed it.

"I am SO SORRY! I took the day off today and forgot to tell the staff about your luncheon!"

Taking a moment to make sure I refrained from screaming incoherent epithets related to the caterer's birth, I calmly asked how he intended to handle the situation. He assured me there would be something edible delivered within the time frame I had originally requested. It wasn't perfect, but it would have to do.

After thinking for a moment about the use of mind-numbing drugs, I instead downed the rest of my coffee and proceeded downstairs to get the room set up. I was confident there would be no more problems. Yeah, sure I was.

When I got to the room and opened the door, I was greeted with a blast of hot air. Checking the temperature, I found it was over 80 degrees.

It was all I could do to keep from throwing myself to the floor in a tantrum that would rival that of any two-year-old child who has been hyped up on too much sugar and not enough sleep.

Oh yes.

Instead, I started drinking iced tea. The caffeinated kind. I stole a fan from the break room and set it to run, opened all the doors and called maintenance. They assured me the temperature would be bearable in no time. An hour later it was still over 80 degrees, and I was starting to panic. The food arrived and was set up, and members of the committee began to show up. Still over 80 degrees. I called maintenance again. They were out of the building running an errand.

The drugs were sounding better and better.

Mr. Head Honcho walked into the room and immediately unplugged the fan. When I tried to explain the situation, he waved me off like an annoying fly. "We have a separate heating and cooling system for this room. It has nothing to do with the rest of the building." With that, he walked over to the thermostat, the same thermostat I had been eyeing for the past two hours, and flipped a switch.

He turned on the air conditioner.

The room immediately began to cool down. People started talking and eating, complimenting me on the choice of menu and caterer. The meeting began, and the stand-in chairman ran it like he was born to the position. It wasn't perfect, but it did just fine.

Once again, God took care of things. All the things. He's good that way, and in so many, many others.

Given the lack of alcoholic beverages, I overdosed on iced tea. With caffeine. You know. To take away that annoying twitch I had suddenly developed.

And so, here I am at zero-before-dawn-thirty, unable to sleep.

But guess what? It's now Tuesday. A brand new day, full of promise. And because I couldn't sleep, I now have tonight's dinner in the crockpot, the dishwasher running, and an entry in Ye Olde Blog. I can get to the polls early to vote. I will get to bed early tonight, and wake up refreshed and ready to greet the day on Wednesday.

And if I can't sleep, I'll be back with a second verse of the 3 Ayem Blues.

Psalm 3:5
I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me.