I don’t know about you, but I am not unhappy to see 2008 end. It has been a bad year economically speaking. There were a few other things thrown in to create some difficulties here and there and one particular week was, in fact, a week from hell.

Have you ever had one of those weeks when you just say, “Wow, what’s next?”

Have you ever had one of those weeks when Monday was the best day of the batch? A few weeks ago that was exactly the kind of week that I had.

Monday, the day when things have a tendency to go wrong, was actually uneventful. I now cherish the memory of its quiet dullness because that was the end of it for a while. I think it was The Mamas and The Papas who had a song called “Monday, Monday.” Compared to the rest of the week, Monday, Monday was so good to me.

Tuesday was not so good to me as it turned out. I had a minor accident with my minivan. The good news is that it was very minor in the overall scheme of things. Neither the van nor myself sustained serious damage. The bad news is that it caused a blow out of a rear tire at a time when I was way too busy to deal with it, but had no choice. Several appointments had to be rescheduled for Wednesday afternoon.

Wednesday started out OK except that my low gas light in the van was on when I headed for work. I figured I had enough gas to make it to and from work and I would just fill up on my way to the afternoon appointments.

How was I to know that one of the biggest fires to take place in the state of Maine would happen just mile from my house? And, how was I to know that when I left home with my low gas light on that most of the roads would be closed and I would be caught in bumper-to-bumper traffic on a detour many miles out of the way. I was sure I would run out of gas and cause an even bigger traffic snarl-up on one of these back roads.

The good news is that I didn’t run out of gas and was eventually able to fill my tank. The bad new is that I had to reschedule the rescheduled appointments.

It was fortunate that I was able to fill my tank because I had to take an even longer detour to get home Wednesday evening, partly because I ordered Chinese food from a restaurant, not realizing that the road it was on was closed and the fire was still raging on. I only broke a couple of minor laws to sneak in the back, but I accomplished the mission.

It’s also fortunate that I made it home just as the fire department was laying hoses on my street. Ten minutes later my street was closed to all traffic because five hose lines snaked like giant anacondas the full length of it.

As Thursday morning rolled around my week really started to go down hill. The good news is that I got the day off because my street was still clogged with hoses. The bad news is that I had to reschedule the rescheduled-rescheduled appointments.

It is, however, fortunate that I was stuck at home or it would have been much later in the day before I would have noticed the water on my living room floor and the dripping ceiling above. One of the five hoses snaking by my house had ruptured during the night or early morning shooting a forceful stream of many, many gallons of water onto my second floor, causing a flood that found its way through the ceiling and walls into my living room. I think I’m one of the few people in the world who can sustain water damage from a fire mile away from my house.

Friday, the water damage specialist arrived, and the good news is that because my ceiling is rock board, a cement type of wallboard, it probably won’t fall down on my head. The bad news is that I had to reschedule the rescheduled-rescheduled-rescheduled appointments.

I was, for what seemed like forever, surrounded by very loud fans upstairs and down and one heck of a lot of yellow plastic tubes stuck in my living room walls in an effort to dry them out. I was told that if all went well things should be dried out by Christmas

I had thought that when the drying tubes came out I would stick plastic poinsettias in the holes and also put them on the ceiling where all the paint has come down and on all the yellow water spots and cracks. I’d cover them all with twinkle lights and that will be my Christmas decorations this year. I didn’t end up doing that because the ceiling paint started to bubble then drop all over the place.

Well, the good news is that I finally made all the rescheduled-rescheduled-rescheduled-rescheduled appointments, and the way I see it, one bad week shouldn’t ruin your whole year.

I wish you all a full year of good weeks in 2009.

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