Not Today

This morning I brought the microwave instruction manual to work to remind me to call the toll-free troubleshooting number: After I cleaned the kitchen last night the appliance had begun to beep randomly and the display pad showed an ominous-looking SE rather than the time of day.

Dang! I had thought to myself, mentally beginning to compose a blog post about how there's nothing sadder in the world than a fatal error message, whether it's on the computer screen or on the microwave. I thought of the anecdotes I would weave into the post about how haaaaard life is when there is no microwave popcorn or toasty rice bag for my cold feet. I reminded myself to underline the seriousness of the situation by mentioning that Boy#2 and Lovely Girl will be arriving tonight to spend the rest of their spring breaks in Small Town, and how am I going to manage extra mouths without a microwave?

It was going to be a very funny blog post.

But then the phrase "nothing sadder in the world" underlined itself in my imagination, and I was reminded of my two Small Town friends whose husbands have died at shockingly young ages during the past two weeks, and of my mother-in-law's long days now that her television remote control has become too complicated for her declining reasoning skills, and of the hardships that are being caused by our incalcitrant politicians who are destroying lives with their bullheaded inability to compromise.

And I was ashamed.

I'll be funny tomorrow.