Where am I, you ask?
In a state of anxiety,
where nothing is going as planned.
Please don't say something like
man plans and God laughs.
I don't find it amusing on a good day,
and today is not a good day.
To make matters worse,
(and they can always get worse)
the plans aren't mine--
Well, they are mine but
they aren't plans I wanted to make.
They were foisted on me
by those who claim to know better.


To start with it's Monday,
as if that wasn't bad enough to start with.
I gave myself extra time because
even if I don't want to go,
I hate being late,
but there was an accident on the way
that slowed traffic to a crawl.
Just when I thought I'd made up the time,
there was a traffic circle that
was backed up for a mile.
Finally at my destination
(only 4 minutes past my time),
I had a burst of happy surprise
as the parking lot appeared empty,
and I thought
I'd be in and out
in a flash.


There I go thinking again.
On the door were signs
of apology--
they had no power
so they were closed.
Numbers listed (2 of them!)
where to call to reschedule.
I don't want to reschedule.
I don't want to deal with any of this,
but I call one number
and then the other.
I'm trying to remain calm,
but I need this taken care of today.


The voice at the end of the line,
business-like and pleasant,
informs me that a voice mail
had been left for me yesterday
about the rescheduling issue.
I never received it.


Tomorrow at...
No, that won't do.
This needs to be done today
or another procedure will need
to be rescheduled.
It's not too long before
I've got an appointment,
5 hours later and
30 miles in the opposite direction
of where I am.


It's only mid-morning
and I'm worn thin.
I won't say
it could be worse,
because of course it could,
and I don't like
to tempt the fates.


I don't have much choice
but to cross my fingers,
pray the day proceeds
with less drama
than it began,
and hope whoever's in charge
is paying attention.


But I'm not counting on it.

~Elise Skidmore ©2020

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