Thank god for Vodka-Valium-Latte!
There I was yesterday, physically exhausted, mentally drained and contemplating the meaning of life. I plonked myself down on a seat in the sunshine and began digesting the events of the day so far
Dodgy start to the day. Woke with a child either side of me, their respective feet in my face/ear, plus a burst boiler and several inches of water at 7am. Having rescued as many items as possible from the water, I located the stopcock, called the plumber and calmed a distraught child who somehow feared a tsunami engulfing her from the laundry. Immediate catastrophe averted, I then threw together a couple of breakfasts and school lunches and checked my emails. At 7.30am I discovered via email that The Psycho was trying to commit 'grand larceny' by selling our jointly owned family home without my agreement. Complete fluke that I was copied in on an email from a third-party.
By 8am, I was somewhat distracted and thus failed as a mother to properly adjudicate on a disagreement between my two girls over the correct ownership of a sparkly hair tie. This then led to the 6 year-old throwing an enormous tantrum and announcing that she was leaving home! So she did. Fortunately she got as far as the end of the drive before she realised that she'd forgotten her packed lunch and homework. Meanwhile the dog had escaped and the 5 year-old had purloined the sparkly hair tie, placed it around her ankle like a hooker and helped herself to my cosmetics. It's a beautifully creative look for preschool.
By the time I had delivered both to school at 9am I felt like I needed a good cry. So I crossed the road and plonked myself in the sunshine outside my favourite cafe to gather my marbles and get some perspective. I'd only been sitting there a few minutes and been too preoccupied with the shitty emails on my Iphone to order my coffee, but she must have seen me coming.
Now there is always friendly, amazingly warm customer service at my favourite cafe. And there is Emily. This was what was put in front of me without my uttering a single word
The girl is an angel. A twenty-something, stunningly beautiful, warm-hearted, and obviously artistically gifted angel who somehow has been taken hostage and is working as a barista.
So, instead of sitting and feeling like shit. I sat and thanked god for the Vodka-Valium-Latte and for the barista named Emily who had put a smile into my coffee and onto my face.