Good things

There are a lot of them in my life...
But I think I found a new one!

I left work just a bit early Tuesday to get to Washington in time for my 5:00 coaching, my first with this particular person. I was driving along happily, traffic free, when I opened my planner to read what I had written about where to park. And there it was-- very clearly delineated on the page:

"Coaching at 4"

And I could feel myself starting to panic, because, well, there is absolutely no way I was going to have a chance of making it on time. Which I HATE. I abhor being late. Really I do. I think it's one of those ways I avoid feeling like I'm not perfect, and can remain convinced I am in control of my life.

As the blood is beginning to boil, I realize that I'm going to have to call and tell her I'll be horribly late. This time last year, I could have seen myself really getting into quite an abusive internal dialogue about this, and beating myself up repeatedly for being so stupid. But then I realized how absolutely un-productive it would be to start that now, in light of the fact that when I did finally get there, I was going to need to sing really well to make up for being so late.

So I called her, and while I was flying down the highway at 1000 miles an hour, I reminded myself that I'm human, and sometimes people make mistakes, even me, and I've kind of been burning the candle at both ends lately. Something was bound to fall through the cracks.

I had a hell of a time finding a place to park the car, and then lost my bearings completely trying to find my way back to her apartment from the far away land where I'd been forced to park. I must have looked like I'd been ridden hard and put away wet when I finally arrived at her doorstep, panting, and really needing to pee. She welcomed me smiling, even though I was a full 20 minutes late, offered me a glass of water and showed me to the bathroom, and then immediately forgot about all of that, and we got down to business. When she said the words "opera mafia" about ten minutes into our "getting to know you" conversation, I knew it was meant to be-- I thought I was the only person who said that...