Wakey-wakey

I was called both “baby” and “honey” before I even got out of bed this morning.  I tried to keep up my end of the conversation, but let’s face it; morning is not my strong suit.  Not without a strong cup of coffee.

I ignored the voice that said, “Sorry baby, did I wake you?”.  And it although it dripped with patronization and ridicule it was also tainted with ever so slight apologetic undertones. I retreated further into the security of my duvet and the cooler side of my pillow relishing the way my bare arms melted into down filled goodness.

I told my favorite white lie of all. “Don’t worry about it; the alarm was going to go off any minute now anyway.  I should be out of bed.”  Lies, lies, lies.  The alarm wasn’t supposed to go off for another hour and 12 minutes.  I wouldn’t get out of bed for at least another hour and a half.  At least.

The voice on the other end of the phone reminded me that he was coming to pick me up at 7:30 am.  I tried to dust a layer of morning fog off of my brain and came up with no good reason why I needed to be out of bed this early on this particular morning.

NSCAD registration, he reminded me.
I reminded him that he was a week early.  Registration didn’t begin until next week.

I rolled over and pulled the covers over my head. “Honey, time to get out of bed”.  I could hear the smirk in his voice mocking me.  And before I knew it, I had half an hour to make myself presentable to the outside world.  Coffee and breakfast awaited me.  
By the time I strolled into the office (15 minutes early to boot!), I was awake, energized and ready to tackle the day.  Breakfast and coffee started the day out on a great note.

Besides, I have a lot more respect for someone who is trying to get me out of bed rather than into it.  

To Go

Yesterday, I lost my lunch.

After running work related errands downtown, I thought I would treat myself to lunch and enjoy it at my desk once I got back to work. So I stopped at one of my favourite lunch cafés – The Daily Grind. I picked out a Cous-Cous Salad and a Samosa to go. Delicious and healthy. They packaged my lunch, made sure I had all the napkins and cutlery that I needed and sent me on my way. Granted that I was already carrying a rather heavy bag, I stopped at a table to organize everything. Both bags in my left hand, Ipod in my right and I’m ready to go.

As I walked back to work, on a gorgeous afternoon, I couldn’t help but curb the rumbling in my belly by thinking about how great my lunch was going to be once I got back to work. Seven minutes. It’s only a seven minute walk.

On the elevator ride back to my office, I noticed, one bag – comprised of books and puppets in my left hand, Ipod in my right. But wait – where was my lunch? I checked my purse, my bag, nothing. Somewhere between the Café and work, I had lost my lunch.

I called, but the man who answered the phone said no one had left behind a lunch. I was so distraught, and disappointed, not to mention hungry. After I left work, I retraced my steps back to the café…. No lunch on the sidewalk. Really, not that I would eat it if I found it, but rather I just wanted to know that I had dropped it unknowingly. I’m almost glad I didn’t find it, because really, how could I drop it and not realize.

Today, I returned to the scene of the crime. I stopped in to pick up a coffee on my way to work. I had envisioned me walking in, greeted with open arms and offer of a new lunch. They would recognize me, we would laugh, we would eat Cous-Cous Salad together. No such luck. So $2 later, I had a large Vanilla Hazlenut Coffee. And I didn’t dare order lunch to go. Because yesterday’s lunch was long gone.

The Princess and the Plea

Dear Powers of the Universe that Be:

Why?

That’s all I really want to know.

Why?

Things have been tricky since sometime this week. Tricky in a funny, ‘I’m going to laugh about this’, but come on now. Enough fun with me, cut a girl a little slack.

Is it Karma? What did I do? Last week, a friend of me told me I have great karma. I know what it must be, last week, I was spoiled. The world made sense. I remember thinking last week I couldn’t remember things going wrong. So I guess this makes this a wake-up call?

I know, it could be worse. You’re really just playing tricks on me. Nothing that happened has had great consequence, and for that, I’m truly grateful.

I realize, I’m in no position to bargain, or state demands. Instead, I plead. Can’t I just have one more ‘perfect world’ kind of day? I promise, it’s just so I can remember what it is like. I will take it and spread good in the world.

Thank you for taking the time to consider my request.

Sincerely,

The Infamous Tracy Lowe

The Infamous Tracy Lowe Strikes Again

On Saturday I dropped by the new bead store around the corner.  A bead store is exciting enough, but they also carry belly dancing costumes – that’s super exciting.  The man who runs the store was telling me about bringing the stuff in from Egypt.  Given my half-Egyptian heritage, my interest in beads and my obsession with belly dancing costumes, we got into quite a lengthy conversation.  His wife arrived at the store and we also spent some time chatting.
Half an hour later I left the store to tackle Saturday morning errands and plans.

Twelve hours later, I went to work.  As soon as I got there, one of the physicians was anxious to tell me about the new store.  Thinking I knew where this is going I promptly replied, “I know! I was in there checking things out already”.  

She begged me to let her finish.  

She was looking at the costumes and telling them about her co-worker who just bought a costume and was showing it off at work.  She was telling them a bit about me, and they said that they thought they knew me.  The physician, attempting to humor them gave them my name.  They’re response: “Oh, Tracy! We know Tracy quite well.”  

The Infamous Tracy Lowe strikes again.

It’s nice to get to know the people in my ‘hood.