top of page
Search

One of Those Days

Writer's picture: Doug WeissDoug Weiss

I should have known. I awakened late and with a lingering sense of dread—yes really, undefined as to source but dread nonetheless. I had dreamt and remembered a few bits and pieces none of them particularly upbeat, but clearly my subconscious was tugging at my sleeve. Oh well, when that happens there is nothing to do but face the day calmly and without judgement.

That is until you wander into the next room after washing up and find that sometime in the course of the night, your cell phone has erased every contact file you have, all your phone numbers, email addresses, names …everything. Now that was not at all funny.

Was I worried, yes and no. I am good about maintaining files. I back up- to a local disc drive, and to a cloud account as well so if all else failed I knew I had a way to retrieve the lost information, but it is disconcerting all the same to see all those names missing. We have become so dependent on these handy tools to keep all our information that when they fail us we have no immediate recourse. Somewhere I have all that information in hard copy—a last resort—that is if I can find where I put it.

In my daily prayers for myself and all of the people in my life that I keep in mind, one of the things I ask for is courage—the courage to accept with serenity what the day will bring, and the strength to persevere in addressing whatever obstacles we may encounter. It helps me stay focused on what is really important and let life’s little curves slide by. But this morning I can honestly say I really needed those reminders.

I will spare you the grim detail. Let me just say that things went from bad to worse. I could not restore the backup because my phone had run out of room—too many podcasts, pics and apps. Well I needed to clean these out anyway so after three different attempts I finally removed enough to watch restore complete its task. But….and there often is a but, I had forgotten that I had just upgraded the software and in restoring the phone to the last backup—done just before the upgrade, I now had to do it all over again. An hour later, whew, I still wasn’t sure if I actually had my contacts back, but when I restarted the phone for the umpteenth time there they were.

Big sigh of relief. But wait, not so fast. It has been my experience that when these things happen they come in threes, and sure enough as I turned to the tasks of the day thinking I had put the worst behind me I was in for my next surprise. Having spent several hours getting my phone back I decided I needed a break. I thought I would do some tidying up in the yard—cleaning up after a windy weekend. I got about a third of the way done when the sky opened and buckets of rain poured down. It didn’t last too long—just long enough to undo most of what I had done and make things soggy. Well nothing to do but stop and go back to work indoors.

That’s when I discovered that my mail program would not open; yes obstacle #3. The laptop was new with a spanking clean operating system and applications so I did not think there was a fatal issue. Calmly (but with some trepidation) I re-started the computer and after the usual interminable wait, launched mail again. It opened but everything was greyed out. I proceeded carefully and eventually was able to restore it. At least that is what I thought, but when I went back to use it—yup, it was frozen again.

Many minutes later I finally had it working. By this time, you might think I'd be pretty vexed but instead here I am writing a post about the day’s adventures. The challenges of the day may not be over, but I cannot forestall them —if or when they come, so be it.

None of this day’s travails is worth an emotional investment. Things break, the weather does what it pleases, not all our dreams are bright and sunny, and sometimes we are let down by others or ourselves. There isn’t much we can do to prevent negativity from knocking at our door. Today has certainly been a test, but I accept the adversity as a teacher. I learned a few things today in the course of fixing the phone and mail program—took some time off when it was clear I could do no more, and I am the better for it.

There will be other days—other adversities to come, none of which I can do much about except what I did today. Fix what I can, accept what I can’t, and be grateful that I have such small problems to deal with. I have a loving family and friends, a roof over my head, interesting work and things to do, and I am still able to do most of the things I want to do. On balance, that’s too many blessings to count.

I hope when you have one of those days—and we all do at some point, you will find a time to laugh even if things seem bleak at the moment. I don’t have a cloud hanging over me most of the time, but when I do and the skies open, I say, let it rain.


8 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Experience

It is often said that we humans learn best through experience. Certainly we seek those with experience to lead, whether it is in work,...

In the beginning was the word

As sometimes happens, an episode of LoveLife.digital , the podcast series Alvean Lyons and I created, began playing on the car audio the...

Self-reliance

Self-reliance is an enduring theme of the American zeitgeist. Our stories, the mythology that attends our history as a nation, and the...

Subscribe and we'll send you new posts every week

  • Facebook Social Icon

© 2023 by Life, Love & Internet Dating. Proudly created with Wix.com

bottom of page