Today was going swimmingly well until this afternoon and then everything went awry quite quickly.  I’m not really sure how it happened.  I said something, the response was slightly confrontational and then it went downhill from there.  The end result was I felt pretty badly about myself, I felt injured, wounded and hurt.  I mulled over all of this while finishing up my work for the day and managed to make myself feel even worse.  I walked to my car, still ruminating over the events, trying to remember how the snowball started rolling.

But then – things started to happen.  Good things.

I walked outside and the ambient temperature was perfect.  So perfect, it was almost like there was no temperature, it was if I was one with the air (sounds a bit new agey). I looked up, and the winds that had pummeled the valley for days, had left the Sierras in plain view, even the snow-capped peaks were clearly visible.  I drove home and didn’t get paged once (that is always a plus when you are on call).

I walk into the house through the garage, look down the hall, and who do I see waiting for me, but yes Tufted Ear Bird Dog – Maxie.  His little tufted ears are peeking around the corner, like he couldn’t really believe I was finally home and what a long day that was – waiting for his entire family to return.  Things were getting much better.

The next person I run into is my oldest, who comes out of his room, to welcome me home.  He asks me how my day is, and I start this whole rant about how I don’t think I deserved to be treated this way and blah-blah-blah.  He stands in the hall and listens to every last word and then he says, “That really sucks, you didn’t deserve any of that!”  The snowball is getting smaller and smaller.

The next person I find, is my husband.  He is sitting in his chair out on the patio, enjoying the spring evening, and a cocktail.  He says “Hey Honey, how was your day?”  And I tell him my little pathetic story, and he just looks at me in total disbelief.  He says “I am speechless!”  Now this is an earth-shattering event, because my husband is never lost for words.  The day is getting better and better. The snowball has been diminished to a puddle.

I sit down with a cup of fresh hot tea, the proportions of sugar to cream are just perfect.  A good cuppa! Who could ask for anything more? I am at home with the people who really matter, that really care.  I have Maxie at my feet, the sun is setting, casting a reddish hue on our Sequoia (of which I am very proud – if I had four more, we would have a grove).  I sit in comfortable silence with my husband watching the final rays of the day dance across the water in the pool.  I listen to the clinking of the ice in his lead crystal cocktail glass. I am at peace.  No one can ruin this day for me. No – not today or any other day!  Because home will always be waiting for me at the end of each and every day. And for that I am most grateful.