The day is sunny and warm, so I walk down the street to visit a friend. An hour or so later I return to my house and I notice the curb in front of my house is wet. As I come closer, I notice the cover to the water meter has water standing on it. I go to my garage and get my curb key and lift the lid off the meter box. The meter box is full of water.
I go into my house and phone the city. A woman answers.
Me: “I have a problem with my water meter and I need to speak to someone in Utilities.”
She: “Are you having a problem with your water meter?”
And so it goes. But in the end someone from Utilities comes to my house and fixes the problem.
I decide to make a large glass of lemonade. I open the freezer door to retrieve ice cubes, and the door snags a box of raisin bran flakes sitting atop the fridge, and the box tumbles to the floor, depositing most of its contents into a brown heap on the kitchen floor. I look at the bran flakes and think, “This is not good.”
I get out the vacuum cleaner and begin suctioning bran flakes and raisins off the floor. Before I can finish, the vacuum cleaner loses suction. I have not vacuumed up enough flakes to fill the bag, so I am somewhat disconcerted. What happened to the suction?
The vacuum cleaner wand comes in two parts that fit together. I pull the two parts of the wand apart and a large shower of bran flakes (along with the aforementioned raisins) spills out of the wand and onto the floor. Bran flakes scatter everywhere. Now I know what happened to the suction.
In the midst of these events I become aware that I have misplaced my cell phone. I don’t know where it is, but I know it’s in the house. I’ll find it.
And so another day grinds it’s way into oblivion. A day peppered with little problems. Some people have huge problems. I’m thankful that my problems today are so small and so—ordinary.
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