It can always get better

My day yesterday began (well, toward the beginning, at least) with me dropping my hair pick, watching it bounce off the bathroom counter ... and right into the toilet. Nothin' but water. Ick. So now I'm down to one hair pick.

It continued on to work, where I forgot about doing a page until very, very late. And then something was wrong with the way our plates were printing, which meant we had to dig D out of bed to walk us through re-sending some stuff.

"We gotta quit meeting like this, Sarah," she said.

"I know," I said. "I think I talk to you more on the phone than I do in person, and I see you every day."

In the pause of waiting for a page to (slowly) process, we chatted about life, namely her newly 15-year-old daughter. "Am I offering congratulations or sympathy?" I asked.

"We're still debating," she said. She sounded very tired. The 15th birthday came complete with a driver's permit and a new reason to stay up very late at night worrying.

I finally left the office around midnight ...

In unrelated news: September is the month when we celebrate Johnny Appleseed.

My only education of Johnny Appleseed involved a musical cartoon produced by Disney in the late '40s. I dug up my very old dictionary (a big, red, mouse-nibbled, hardbound copy of the American Heritage Dictionary that's too outdated to be allowed as a reference in any place but my home -- it was tucked under my bed, which indicated that the last time I read it was in bed ... some might find this a bit sad). The "Johnny Appleseed" listing instructed me to look up "Champman, John," which I did, only to find two brief lines; basically, when he lived and that he's become a legendary figure in American history. I realize that a dictionary's not an encyclopedia, but I was still expecting a bit more.

Giving up, I hit YouTube and found that old Disney cartoon and got re-acquainted with Johnny Appleseed. When all else fails, YouTube is there to educate.

The night ended with a two-hour chat on the phone with Mom, which is a good way to end any day. Of course, I got the extended story of Mr. Nice-n-Handsome. And a lot more stuff, including the Church Ladies' Guide to Baking Bread and Discussing Fertility (only in my mom's women's group at church could this happen ...).