BLAME IT ON AUGUST

Some weeks are easier than others. Chip and I have a life condition we call "being in the stream." It's when the future unfolds before you like a yellow brick road, a Disney moment when the whole world is in concert, the path ahead is obvious, smooth, even glorious. Little birds float around our heads singing, rainbows light our path. All the signs and flowers point the same way.

Then there are weeks like this.

All I wanted was a cardboard box.

I've been looking for one the whole damn week. A simple cardboard box big enough to ship the desk chair I sold on Ebay. I thought I had one on Sunday. I thought I had one on Thursday. I thought I BOUGHT one this morning. But no, after eight phone calls, a 24-mile drive, and a wasted $11, it was too small.

How hard can it be? Isn't this the lucky 08/08/08? Or do you have to be Chinese for that to apply?

If I was in the stream, that box would have been dropped of on my doorstep by bear cubs on Monday morning. It would have had a roll of strapping tape and a bunch of bubble wrap inside. An hour later a handsome UPS driver would have shown up to whisk it to Indiana for half price -- and he would have brought me a skinny latte.

What am I doing wrong that's making this so difficult? To get back in the stream I usually have to find something I'm pushing too hard or pulling too vigorously. Something I'm agitating about that needs to be left alone or something I'm leaving alone that needs attention. Help!

Shipping a chair. Sitting. Cardboard. Packing. Letting go. Fulfilling an obligation. Peanuts. Bubble wrap. Planning ahead. Anybody?

I found a crap box at Sears that looks a little Frankensteinian, but it was after 5:00 on Friday when the post office was closed. So now that glommed-together box with Sears washing machine instructions all over it has to sit glaring at me until Monday. Maybe the message is stamped on the box somewhere .... am I supposed to learn Spanish?

TODAY'S ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
--packed the #&*$&*# desk chair for shipping
--bid on an attitude adjustment on Ebay