Today was an
exercise in handling frustration. From the moment I got up and to my computer,
the internet was agonizingly slow—when it would respond. It simply wouldn’t
open some sites. Lest you think I simply wanted to spend the day on Facebook,
let me tell you the serious chores I had: I am the Thursday monitor for the
Sisters in Crime listserv, which means I have to check pending messages online
every couple of hours; one of my daughters-in-law had a birthday today, and I
wanted to send an electronic card; an online grocer from which I ordered a few
items automatically enrolled me in a membership and charged my credit card $60—thanks
to Discover for alerting me; I had to go online to cancel that; and, my task for
the morning was to prowl the internet looking for images for the cover of my
cookbook. I couldn’t do any of that and spent the morning mostly wringing my
hands in frustration.
Mid-morning, I
sent an email to the neighborhood listserv and found out that many in my
neighborhood were affected; tonight, friends came for happy hour and they, some
ten minutes from here, had also been affected. Several people had called
AT&T and been told a service person would be out or, my favorite, get a new
modem. Apparently, AT&T didn’t think to discover if it was their problem. I
meant to call but about one o’clock, it was suddenly up to speed and okay. I
worked frantically to accomplish all the things left undone.
And then I crashed
for a nap.
Tonight, Teddy and
Sue came for happy hour, full of wedding plans and anticipation. Sue had been
to a neighbor’s house for a fitting on a dress—hidden talents of my neighbors
but I had no idea that Margaret was such an accomplished seamstress. She’s
accomplished is many other arenas and this just added one more talent.
Sue, Teddy, and I
had a good visit, and our talk ranged far and wide beyond the wedding, though
it’s obvious that’s on their minds all the time. But we talked about work and
kids and politics and had fun.
And now having
worried enough for one day, I’m going to read. Almost to the end of a most
suspenseful novel.
A beautiful day in
Texas—hope yours was too, wherever you are.
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