So sorry for the long absence. I’ve been totally bogged down with work and holiday prep. I’ve been wanting to write for days particularly since my last post is so incredibly Pollyanna-ish that I want to puke every time I read it.
I had an incredibly bad week at work. My assistant has been replacing the receptionist who was on a leave of absence (she officially quit this week). Over the past month the data entry has been rapidly piling up (there are just not enough hours in my day to get to it), and now I am frantically trying to close November with almost none of it done. My office is responsible for anything money related: A/R, A/P, Payroll, Human Resources. November is open enrollment, which means a huge chunk of my time that month was devoted to dealing with that. December means Christmas and work slow downs, which means many, many requests for salary advances to be processed, and mounds and mounds of workshare claims. The huge number of balls that I normally juggle have been increasing at an astronomical rate, and the end result is that some are dropping. This week was the week to take the fallout. It seemed like every hour someone was informing me of something that I had neglected to do, or done badly, or done incorrectly. I started losing sleep, which caused me to make more mistakes, with the predictable results. To top it off, my printer at work is starting to crap out, requiring me to print things multiple times to get a legible copy. In short, my job has been very, very hard, and by today I was feeling that a monkey could get better results. I’ve been coming home absolutely exhausted every night, with no energy to finish the holiday gifts that need to be mailed. I’ve been snapping at everyone, including my boss. When he confronted me about my attitude yesterday, I explained what was going on, and by the end tears were welling in my eyes (so professional, I know). He looked at me. “I appreciate the job your doing.” He patted me on my back and continued down the hall. I, meanwhile, dried my eyes and mentally kicked myself for acting like a two year old.
So, this afternoon, I was glued to my computer imputing receipts, feeling totally worthless, wiped, and more than a little blue when the mail was dropped on my desk. I immediately recognized the writing on the small package as my mom’s. Curious, I opened the package. On a tiny card envelope, she had written, “Mom Open Now.”
This threw me. Had she accidentally sent me my grandmother’s present? My hands hovered over the soft package. Should I open it? I slit open the envelope. Inside was a tiny card with three caroling cats (cats that remarkably resembled my felines). Inside were the words “Merry Early Christmas, Goblin, Imp, Daphne.” I opened the package and found a pair of slipper socks with three caroling cats on the cuff, complete with the words “Fa La La.” I laughed for the first time in what felt like days and excitedly showed the gift and card off to my co-workers, who immediately muttered, “So that’s where she gets it.” I laughed at their ribbing, and they were so relieved that I wasn’t grumpy they even conceded the idea was “cool.” I walked out of the office into the dusk, smiling.
December 17, 2007 at 3:32 pm
Sometimes, we really need Mom.