For Whom the Cell Tolls

On Monday I was fairly certain that my week would be uneventful and quiet especially since my three and a half year old niece was to go home the next day.

The extent of Auntie's 'maternal' instincts are confined to the well being of Zia. The care of a small human is entirely different than the care of a small dog . Society has an issue if you leave them unattended for more than thirty seconds. I'm still trying to catch up on my sleep. Its amazing how a child who is less than three feet tall and weighs about thirty five pounds soaking wet can commandeer a queen size bed leaving me to hover on a mere five inches on the edge, not to mention tiny foot prints which have been permanently imprinted in my lower back. I haven't had such dark circles in months.

Save for some last minute volunteer work I'm doing for my town's Annual Zucchini Festival http://www.yourplaceinvermont.com/ there should have been very little going on. Although, given a solar eclipse (I think) back in the early part of the month, I should have known better. Forewarned, the horoscope said, is better than forearmed. No matter. I approached each day basically holding my breath for that 'other' shoe to fall. And fall they have. In sizes 0 to 12.

Everything from little annoyances to major and serious issues. The minor stuff is stressful and just a pain in the ass. That is the stuff that make you want to stick your head in a bag and scream. But all of that goes away when you get news that someone your age, who you've known since you were five, died after been diagnosed with a serious illness just a couple of months ago.

That is the stuff that makes the nonsense you can control look like child's play. As I said to a friend yesterday, your health is the only thing that matters in the long run, everything else can be changed. Once your health is in question, all else takes a back seat to reality. It doesn't make the other stuff unimportant. After all one has responsibilities to address, but lose your health and everything else falls into its proper perspective.

So, as I was rehashing all the annoyances of this week with my dinner companion, I watched my cell phone slip out of my handbag, bounce onto the table and into the lake where we were sitting.

Adding that to the ever growing to-do list, I realized that even though I had to rearrange my entire schedule today to fit in the trip to Verizon, it was just a small inconvenience which will go away once I pick out my new phone.

Hopefully my biggest decision today with be the color. Maybe I'll get one in pink...given I'm such a pink kinda gal.