I haven’t had one of “those days” in quite a while so I was overdue for one and Tuesday it decided to give me a visit. The good news in all that went wrong is that I am still able to write about and actually laugh a little about it right now.
For starters, I overslept on Tuesday and that is something that rarely ever happens. No matter how late it is when I finally call it a night and close my eyes I am 99.999% certain I will be awake between 5:45 and 6:15 AM in the morning, I may feel like crap from being a short night of sleep but I will be awake.
That didn’t happen Tuesday morning, waking up at 7:20 felt like I had missed half my day already, even though it was just an hour or so later than normal. So I did my normal stuff and being that I was leaving town on Tuesday I had to pack my suitcase. Lucky for me that I did the laundry Monday night so I would have everything I need clean and ready to go. So started packing and had everything except my Wrangler jeans in the bag and when I went to get those out of the dryer I got my next surprise, the dryer was empty.
My initial thought was maybe the Mrs. had gotten them out of the dryer for me and I went and look in the spot she puts my clean clothes, nothing there. Then it hit me, I went back to where the washer and dryer are and opened the washer. Sure enough, all the jeans were sitting right in there, so it seems that I had forgotten to transfer them over to the dryer before I fell asleep. That little screw up would add another half an hour or so to my heading out the door.
I was expecting a package to be delivered to my office in Houston and it was coming next day air with the early AM guarantee so those are normally there by 8:00 AM, the guy over at the office always texts me when I have packages or mail show up so I know that those have arrived, I hadn’t heard from him yet so even though I was behind time wise, I wasn’t leaving town without that package so I decided to rearrange some of the stuff I carry with me for work that stays in the back seat, mostly product samples and literature. It had been a while since I had last done it and it was overdue.
I got all of that straightened up and went back in the house, the jeans were dry so I packed those and closed the suitcase up and left it by the far end of the couch in the front room. I proceeded to grab both of my computer bags and carried those out and out them in the truck. Just then my phone rings and it is an old friend and customer from my days when I worked in distribution. I hadn’t talked to Gene since the spring time when I stopped by his place and visited with him. I am guessing it was early March.
The news he gave me wasn’t good, he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer back in May and had to have the tumor taken out and a whole bunch of other stuff including his spleen. That news hit me like a ton of bricks, I sat on the tailgate while we talked on the phone, I spent 45 minutes with him on the phone and then I went back inside and had to tell the wife and our boys.
The boys really like Gene, when the boys played baseball their teams would practice at Gene’s place; he has a little private baseball facility that he rents out and the fields are always in great shape and has first class lighting so you can practice well into the night if you wanted too.
Gene said his tumor was the size of half of a baseball and the doctors think they got it all but they aren’t sure that his cancer was confined to just that spot. He had decided that he wasn’t doing the chemo therapy, and I really can’t blame him, that is nasty stuff and it damn near kills you, with no guarantee that it will even help.
By the time the four of us got done discussing Gene’s situation and saying some prayers for him it was already going on 11:00AM, I had gotten a text saying that my package had arrived so I gave the hugs and kisses to the family and got in the truck and headed over to the office, picked up that package I had been expecting and now I was headed off to Austin, Texas.
I made a couple stops on my way out of Houston and visited with a couple customers. When I got out Hwy290 a ways I decided to grab a roast beef sandwich in Waller, Texas, The time was 1:45 PM and I needed that sandwich and fries. I was back in the truck just a couple minutes past two and headed west bound, from Waller to Austin is right at a two hour drive or so. I had made it passed the towns of Brenham and Carmine and was just approaching Ledbetter, Texas when my phone rang, I could see from the caller ID it was the youngest boy.
“Did you say you were going out of town today Dad?, was the first words he said, after I said hello. “Yes son , I am on my way to Austin” I told him. “Just how far are you?” he replied.” I am just better than half way there right now, what you got?” I said back to him, meaning what do you need to talk about. I could have gone all day not wanting to hear his next reply.
“I’ve got your suitcase; you left it in the front room by the couch.”, were his words. Sure as hell, I reached behind my seat with my right hand and I couldn’t feel my suitcase where it normally sits. I pulled off the road and looked in the back seat, there were both of my computer bags but the suit case wasn’t there.
At that point it was official; I was having one of “those” days .From where I was at to back to the house is right at an hour and forty five minutes. At Ledbetter I was able to turn around and head back home to retrieve my bag. I thought about just staying home and leaving early in the morning for Austin but I figured I needed to make sure that I was there early today so I headed back out with the suit case. I arrived in Austin ay 7:30 PM .
I never in the 11 years I have been doing this job ever once forgot my suit case when I left out for a trip, nor have I ever forgotten it at a hotel room either. I also don’t get many phone calls like the one I got from Gene on Tuesday morning, I could go the rest of my life without ever hearing that a friend has cancer and that would suit my just fine. I think that call disturbed me even more than I realized for me to leave home without checking things twice.
I am the guy that measures everything two or three times before cutting something, and I check stuff like bags the same way too.
Here is to hoping that today will not be one of “those “ days for you and me.
