As I think all of you who read this blog know, the last few weeks have been rough. My grandpa's sudden death, awful enough by itself, was followed by a scary storm in Chicago that damaged my parents' house and stranded me in Chicago after 7 hours of sitting on the runway in tornado-level winds. As if those events and a sudden trans-Atlantic flight weren't rough enough, Bad Things have continued to follow me... to the point that you just have to laugh.
I eventually got to Heathrow, two days late, on a very full plane of cranky people who were just as many days late as I was. We even landed early. Yay, you'd think. But no: we landed so early (5:45 am) that they hadn't turned on the moving walkways yet so we walked *miles* from the plane to the customs desks, past the lifeless (not-)moving walkways. We all looked and felt like zombies. When I finally rocked up at the customs desk, literally 35 minutes after leaving the plane, sweaty and with my eyes basically closed, I must have looked so shit that the customs officer actually said, "Are you ill?" OMG. Imagine how awful/unbelievable/kind of funny it would have been if they'd detained me for poor health! Luckily my eyes popped open at that question and apparently my assurance that I was just tired was convincing enough to let me into the country.
After that, this week has seen more ridiculous occurrences of bad luck and why-me moments. I'll spare you those, and tell you instead about someone else's FML moment that I happened to witness and giggle at more than I should have:
Last night I was in line to check out a book at the University Library, The Most Inefficient And Needlessly Stressful Place Ever. The line was several people long because the library was about to close. When I finally got to the front and a librarian was scanning my book, a guy quietly walked up next to me and calmly said to the librarian, "Excuse me, but it seems there's someone caught in the lift and quite upset." To which the librarian said, "Right, I'll be along shortly," and reached for my library card.
!!!!! WHAT?!?! How could that guy not scream OH MY GOD YOUR ANCIENT TINY TERRIFYING LIFT HAS CAPTURED SOMEONE INSIDE IT WHO'S SCREAMING, AND THE LIBRARY'S ABOUT TO CLOSE AND TRAP THEM FOREVER!! HELP!!
and how could the librarian not drop my stupid book and sprint to their aid?!?!
Sometimes other people's moment of crap luck put our own in perspective.
3 comments:
It must mean you are bound for really good luck soon. Amazing self-restraint to not list out all of the other potholes ... you are an unusual and special blogger (and therefore person behind the keyboard, eh?). Hope sun comes out soon. Xo.
Hang in there Caitlin. As Dad says sometimes... life comes in 3s. You have had your 3 bad things (or maybe 3+), which means the next 3+ things will all be good.
So sorry to hear the sad news about your Grandpa, Caitlin. And the other stuff? Wow. I hope July is a much better month for you.
Janet Gayes
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