My lousy no good day

I lay here under four blankets hiding from today ready for a new tomorrow.

I barely slept last night due to some excruciating pain in my upper jaw that I’d been experiencing for three days. I finally crashed around 8am this morning only to wake up at noon and realize I missed church. My house sat silent all day while I sat still wondering what the day had in store for me.

Though the world seemed perfect outside with temperatures hanging in the seventies I felt my world was missing something. My life puzzle felt like it was missing a vital piece to complete the over all picture. I thought at first it was due to a lack of caffeine so I drove to my nearest convenience store and bought my usual Sunday papers and a large Coke. I scoured both newspapers today looking for something to spark my interest…any story or public notice that could take my mind off the silence I was experiencing. I read four different classified sections (two online) looking for a new job hoping that one would pop right out and give me a dream to think about for at least the next hour. I watched half of one movie and cleaned my whole house hoping something would give me motivation. Yet nothing made me feel like the one piece was put into place. As I felt realized nothing was going to fill my void today I stepped outside and walked a few miles basking in the warm sun only to come home and feel empty again. This day was turning into a no good day.

My pain never subsided until around dinner when I ventured out to get some Chinese take-out…..a staple in any single man’s diet. On my way to grab some sweet and sour chicken I was lost in thought when I realized that I had turned down the wrong intersection and would need to cut thru the neighborhood to order at my usual spot. Without a second thought I cut thru a side street before coming to a stop sign and turning right. After turning onto the main street a bright spot light came thru my back window followed by flashing red and blue lights causing me to signal and pull over on another side street on my right. Frustrated and curious, I rolled down my window, lowered my music level and located my license in my wallet as the cop approached. “License and insurance please,” the officer said. “Yes, sir. Here you go,” I replied. “If you’re going to fail to stop at a stop sign don’t do it in front of a police car next time,” the officer said with a look of disapproval on his face. “I’m sorry sir, but I thought I did stop correctly,” I stated before he cut me off and said, “Oh now you’re lying to me!” He shook his head and walked back to his car mumbling “idiot” under his breath as I sat in silence staring at the constant blur of red and blue lights in my rear view mirror. This day was only getting worse.

Minutes passed in slow motion as I soon realized that I was definitely getting a ticket. No officer would take this much time if I were only getting a warning. After coming to this realization my heart started beating faster than normal and my jaw started hurting again as anger formed inside of me. “Sign here” the officer said as he lowered his ticket pad thru my window and into my hands. Signing my signature in the sloppiest form possible he continued in a hateful voice, “Next time don’t lie to an officer because he might just let you off with a warning.” This was followed by him ripping the carbon copy ticket from his pad and tossing it into my lap. The officer started walking back to his car as I leaned out and said, “Sir I apologize.” In that moment I wanted to share a few of my thoughts with him and how I realized he was having a bad day but he shouldn’t take it out on me. After all it’s my tax dollars paying his salary, but I came to my senses after picturing myself in a jail cell with some freaks overnight. Waiting for response I realized that he had kept walking and was ignoring me when I apologized. So again, I leaned out farther and yelled “SIR…..I SAID I WAS SORRY!” This time he stopped, shrugged his shoulders and walked on…all without looking at me in the eyes. After looking over the handy little brochure that my ticket came with I realized he didn’t want to look at me in the eyes because he was charging me $172 for his idea of a lousy stop.

I’m not quite sure why in that moment I felt like apologizing, but I was mad that he accused me of lying. I handled the situation in a polite manner and felt the need to discuss the situation but realized I was not going to be afforded that luxury. I eventually picked up my Chinese and headed home to collapse on my couch. It didn’t take long for me to realize that today wasn’t meant for me. Today was my lousy no good day.