Tuesday, June 2, 2015

A Broken Microwave, A Fire Alarm and a Power Outage

Did you ever have the oddest sequence of events take you to exactly where you needed to be, but wouldn't have gone there on your own? Me too!

Our microwave has been smelling like the makings of an electrical fire every time I have forgotten not to use it the past few weeks. Last night I had some decent leftovers for my son to warm up for supper. Only no microwave.

Darn!! I had to go out and replace our microwave. Either that or cook! Blech to both, but buying a microwave seemed like a longer term investment so I opted for that.

I didn't want to go to the store where I bought our first dud microwave, so I went to the next closest.

I walked into the store and people were everywhere. I wondered why and then deduced that "June 1st" payday may have something to do with the unruly mob.

I needed some bananas while I was there and after I walked by some bad looking strawberries I found some bananas that didn't look any better.

I was just about to get grumpy about the crowd, the unsavory looking fruit and the fact that I didn't want to be there when the fire alarm went off.

"Everybody out of the building" said one store clerk.

Why didn't I think of that before? Why did it take a fire alarm to make me realize I had the choice to leave the building?? I honestly wonder where my head is at some days.

I ended up at a preferable store, buying a preferred brand of microwave (one that had not let me down in the past), with the ability to pick up some groceries and milk while I was out.

The benefit of needing a microwave before my son's supper could be warmed up, is that he had time to mow the lawn before I returned home with the food warmer upper.

I was finally ready to sit still in front of the TV and waste the remainder of the evening. I deserved it. I had mowed my half of the lawn, gone shopping, showered and put in a full daycare day. I was done and ready to call it a day.

Then the power went out.

I love my new laptop computer!! The power went out but my computer kept on going, powered by its back-up battery source.

The internet was down due to the power outage but I had a bookkeeping job to do that had nothing to do with the internet and everything to do with sitting down and getting at it.

The gift of a one hour power outage, combined with fifteen minutes to finish up the job and send it on its way once the power and internet were restored was just what I needed.

I would have made that job bigger than it needed to be if I had put it off another day. Thank goodness for that powerless hour. Double gratitude goes to my computer that just kept on going. With or without a power source.

The gift of a fire alarm removed me from a store I didn't want to be in, in the first place. It redirected me to a place where I could do a little one-stop-shopping and not have to leave the house for the rest of the week.

The gift of a broken microwave forced me out of the house when that was the last place in the world I wanted to be.

Three "gifts" put me exactly where I needed to be last night. I did the hard stuff. All I had to do was wake up this morning, without the weight of what I should have and could have done last night.

The hard work is done. Now all I have to do is keep taking one small step in front of the other and the next hard things won't feel so bad.

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