When It Rains, It Pours

Today started like any other school day.  I got up early and followed the usual routine to get ready for my day.  When I was trying to tame my hair into submission, it became very uncooperative.   I would blow dry a section straight and within mere seconds, it had crinkled and curled up, sticking out in all directions.  I was looking like a circus clown; the only thing missing was red dye in my curled up locks.  A day with this kind of rain and humidity was a losing battle, so I finished getting ready and headed out the door.  

The rain began to start on my drive, but I had no worries.  I always have an umbrella in my car.  I'm like a Girl Scout - always prepared.  Once at school, I wrestled my school bag from the back seat as I ducked my head inside my car to avoid the now pouring rain.  I grabbed at the usual umbrella spot and came up empty handed.  What? I searched frantically around the back seat as the rain began to soak my legs and back.  No umbrella. The rain picked up in strength and I figured I had better run for it and not waste any more time. 

Safely inside I headed to my room to start getting things ready. I was determined not to let a few bumps get me in a negative state of mind.  I knew that once the kids arrived they would fill me with joy and it would be a great day.  

Not so much. 

The kids did arrive.  They did make me happy to see their smiling faces and hear about their holiday weekends.  But by 9:25 when they were still arriving (late) and still talking about their holiday weekends, I wasn't feeling the joy.  I put on my "let's get serious" face although I'm sure many were wondering what on earth had happened to my hair.

"Boys and girls," I began in a firm teacher voice.  "School started over twenty minutes ago and the majority of you have not even started to copy down notes in your planner."  I paused.  For effect.

"We really need to get started so I'd like all of you to stop chatting and get busy," I added.  

At just this exact time, the rain started up again and it was pouring. It makes a sound on the school roof and vents that is hard to miss and this, of course, was noticed by all the students in the room, who were just looking for something to distract them.

"Cool!" screeched one little one, pointing out the window.  "It's raining so hard!" 

Three or four jumped from their seats and headed to the window to get an up-close look at the puddles forming around the swings.   

"It's raining harder than it ever has!" proclaimed one student.   A few more students began to get out of their seats for a look see. 

Before I completely and utterly lost control, I announced that they had to the count of five to get back in their seats and copy planner notes.   

"FIVE!" I started, pacing about the room.   "Four!"   And by then I scanned the room and saw twenty-two little darlings furiously writing in their planners.  Sometimes you have to use tough love.

The day had its ups and downs and was interrupted several times by bouts of pouring rain pounding on the pavement and the building.  Of course it was indoor recess.  The fact that there are only thirteen more days of school does not help matters.  A teacher has to remain on her toes all day at this time of the year.

As I left school today, I reached for my phone while I was opening my car door.  My big school bag of "stuff" swung around and knocked my arm, throwing my cell phone to the pavement.  Glass side down.  Argh!  Before I could utter a swear word, I picked it up, amazed at the amount of shattered glass.  I tapped it.  It still worked!  Although I could barely see the screen, it was working which is wonderful, since I don't have a home phone.  Just one more thing going wrong today, I thought to myself. 

After school, I had yet another vet appointment for my dog who has had an apparently antibiotic resistant strain of ear bacteria.   It took me ten minutes to bribe her into the car.  I think she's suspicious due to our weekly vet appointment the last five weeks.  No sooner had we pulled up to the vet, and I picked up my dog to carry her in, but it began to rain harder than it had all day.  Sheets of rain traveled across the parking lot. No umbrella.  Seven cars away from the door.  Pouring rain.   Super.  I ran for the door.  

The sunny receptionist, obviously amused by my sudden, frantic burst into the lobby, wet head to toe, smiled grandly.  

"Why, it's raining cats and dogs out there!" she joked, waiting for the expected laugh.  

Lucky for her she had a receptionist friend who roared at her funny joke, seeing as I was not amused in the least.   My crazy hair was now dripping wet and I couldn't wait for the results when it air dried.  My dog was dripping wet, shaking with fear, and crying.  Quite the pair we made I imagine.   And to top it off, I couldn't even text anybody to get some sympathy because every time I touched my phone screen, tiny pieces of glass became embedded in my finger.  Not worth the risk.

So, two hundred dollars and a couple bottles of ear drops later, we left with the sun nowhere in sight and the humidity on the rise again.   

I arrived back home to wait on hold for thirty minutes as I tried to figure out my options to get my phone fixed.  I think A T & T transferred me no less than five times to robotic sounding people who simply passed me off to someone else when they sensed my frustration.  I was told I had two options.  Go to the Genius Bar at an Apple store to see if they are in the mood to repair your screen or buy a new phone at an ATT store and fork over $500.  

"Well, that sounds like a great deal," I told the ATT customer service rep on the phone.  "Especially since I only paid .99 for the phone three months ago!"  

They couldn't have cared less about my bad day that had gotten even worse or the fact that ripping me off for a .99 replacement phone didn't make sense.  

"Can I help you with anything else?" the perky customer service person asked. 

Well, how can you help me with something else if you still haven't helped me with what I asked for in the first place? I thought to myself as I hung up.

As I headed off to the Genius Bar at the Apple store, I caught a news report that there was a tornado warning a few counties over.  I chuckled to myself as I thought that only a tornado could make this day even worse.   But then I thought of all the people in Oklahoma and their recent tornado disaster and thanked my lucky stars that I would not ever (hopefully) have to see something like that.  

I've visited the Genius Bar several times before, always with a positive outcome, so I figured they would be the ones to solve my problem. I was greeted by one of the more than fifty blue-shirted, apple-loving employees, who quickly and efficiently guided me back to my appointment with a genius.  Ms. Genius looked a bit shocked at my shattered phone, mostly because it was still fully functional even though it seemed impossible.  She carefully and skillfully guided her finger around the shards of glass to find my serial number, explained that she could replace the phone for me (for a much more reasonable charge than the ATT phone reps), and skipped off to bring me my new phone.  This was all accomplished within fifteen minutes.  Yay for the Genius Bar!   The only thing that would have made that trip better was perhaps an actual bar, if you catch my drift.

Ahhhhhh. Finally, things were beginning to look a bit brighter for me.  As I left the mall, the sun was breaking through the clouds.  The rain had stopped.  

And tomorrow is already Wednesday.