Sucked Into A Swirling Vortex

On Sunday I got caught in a swirling vortex.

Saturday was cool, though.

On Saturday the autumn colors were mind-blowing. The weather was so good it made you ache. Roger and I went to Dottie Mae's Costumes and a thrift store to find items for the costumes we're going to wear to a Halloween party on Friday. I'm not telling (yet) what we're gonna be. After that, I met a friend named Laura for coffee. I hadn't seen her for TWENTY-ONE YEARS! I knew her in college. We have both wandered far mentally, emotionally and spiritually from the people we were then. Now there we were at the Broadway Cafe on Saturday, drinking our lattes and confiding our thoughts, as if it had been 21 days, not years. It's so nice when that happens. I've been lucky enough to re-connect with a couple of old friends from my KU days. The ones that really mattered seemed to get me then, and they still seem to get me now.

On Sunday, there was a sudden shift, and I got sucked into a swirling vortex. I had a Reference midterm due that took hours and hours to complete. Before I could work on it, I had to take Annabelle way the hell out to the edge of the earth where her soccer game was. It was raining and we could see lightning on the way there. I drove up just to show the coach that we had made an effort. He said they still hadn't called the game. He expected us to wait there. We sat in the car, but I kept it running. This was a no-brainer, and we should all be leaving. I finally told Annabelle we were leaving. Then the coach said he still hadn't heard, and the girls should go on the field and warm up. I told Annabelle no way, we were going. She ran onto the field to tell him. Just as we were getting ready to pull out of the parking lot, a big flash of lightning sent the rest of the girls running off the field. Hah. I don't need the soccer league to tell me whether to go or stay. So we drove back with our black puppy in tow, who needed a walk and kept digging her toenails into Annabelle's flesh. Roger was gone all day working first in Topeka and then at the Record Bar, so I had no back-up. Working on my mid-term in the evening, my computer froze. Lilah announced she needed help with her homework. The dog was going nuts inside her crate. But it was pouring rain so I couldn't let her out, and we had already run through all of her chew toys, and special toys stuffed with treats. Lilah also announced she was out of pants and needed her jeans washed. Annabelle had a stomach ache. I finally finished the midterm and submitted it at 10:14, an hour and 45 minutes before it was due. I sent the dog out to go potty, and got her to sleep and the kids went to bed. I threw a load of laundry in the washer. I grabbed a New Yorker and some cheese to snack on. At last I could relax, I thought. And then Annabelle ran off to the toilet, thinking she had to throw up.

She didn't. But I gave up my silly notions about relaxing. When you're in a vortex, you're in a vortex, and there is no getting out of it.