The Day

Dear Secret Pal,

Thank you so very much!!! A package arrived from Amazon.com today, and I'm absolutely certain that it must be from you! The books you chose are simply perfect, and the timing couldn't have been better.

I was having a miserable day quite beyond description. (No one is dead, no one is injured, the car is still in one piece. Feel free to imagine whatever horrible details you wish that meet those parameters, and I think you might begin to have a grasp of how I've been feeling today.)

And then I got home, and there was a package on my doorstep!! Imagine my delight!

I took my time opening it, savoring the moment of just having a package to hold never mind what is inside. But curiosity eventually got the better of me, and what a fabulous surprise it held! Two knitting books that I have been drooling over! Marianne Kinzel's Second Book of Modern Knitting, and Mary Thomas's Book of Knitting Patterns!

I can hardly wait to try some of the patterns! But first, I'll spend the next week or two reading absolutely every single word! Harry Potter can wait.

Nonetheless, The Day is still being mean to me otherwise. In addition to whatever you imagined previously, you can add that I've slipped on the staircase resulting in a huge bruise on the right shin and a scraped left knee. I managed not to swear or whimper, but only because the pain seemed so trivial compared to the morning I'd had. Also add the discovery that the refrigerator is completly out of Dr. Pepper, sour cream, and tortillas, but that it in fact does have a full loaf of bread (after I told everyone all weekend that we couldn't have french toast because there was no bread in the house) Add a score of other minor indignities and inconveniences, and you'll have a good idea of the rest of the day so far. It can't get too much worse: there are only 3 1/2 hours left.

...And then I catch sight of the books that arrived today, and I can manage a smile in the midst of it all. Thank you, thank you, thank you!