Knife of Boxes

I hurt myself today.

The people that donate 90% of the product I distribute for free to teachers were coming by my center today for the first time. Two of those three folks were new to their organization and so it was completely important that the place "shine like the top of the Chrysler building!" We've been working on it for several days and were putting the finishing touches on it when I got stupid and pulled a boxcutter toward me to cut off the top of a box. The box resisted, I pulled a little harder, the box gave up like the underdog team letting go of the rope in an 80's camp movie and I stabbed myself good in the forearm.

I missed the major veins, so I'm very very lucky.

Of course, I couldn't go to the doctor for my tetanus shot or my stitches just then because the bigwigs were coming. We bandaged it up, I called my brother to see if he would bring my car to the restaurant where we would be power-lunching and I held my arm above my heart (it throbbed less that way) for the next couple of hours until I could drive out to see my doctor. I was a little less than my usual charming, but when I apologized for it, my guests assured me they had a great time. Well, their assessment of a great time and mine are probably a little different since they don't know my ulterior motives, but I guess it wasn't a total waste. My boss stepped into the tour briefly and took up a lot of the slack I was leaving. He's a fantastic storyteller. Even preoccupied with whether or not we would get out the door to lunch in time for me to get to the doctor before she closed for the day, I enjoyed listening to him draw them in to our vision for what can be done in the Chicago community. It was fun.

So, I went to the doctor, then went out to see my mom. It's good to see moms after one has been hurt. If I were still a kid, she would let me stay home from school tomorrow. But, since I'm an adult, I'll wait until next week and not go to school, I mean work, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I found cheap tickets to Orcas on Saturday and took advantage of them. So, while I was being given a variety of food to take home with me, I was also borrowing carry-on luggage.

I'm ready.

Last week was probably the toughest week I've had since I moved to Chicago. Work, relationships and moon cycles combined to make me adopt my brother's best friend's mantra: "Hatehatehate."

This week will probably be better, but let's remember that it has started with a wound.