Some days you spin

Oh, sweet nectar

There’s something about a Diet Coke from McDonalds.  I don’t know exactly what it is … the impeccably frozen ice (not watery/not freezer burned)? The perfect carbonation (fizzy instead of bubbly/never flat)? I don’t know what it is, but I loves me some DC from McD.

And if loving it is wrong, I don’t wanna be right.

Bonus: where I live, a large soda or tea is only $1. Seriously.

So I picked up a DC for me and a couple of teas for my co-workers this morning and headed to the office. I made sure the drinks were secure in the cardboard-like carrier (what is that thing made of?), turned off the radio, put the car in park, dropped my keys in my purse, and unfastened my seatbelt, ready to step out of the car and into my day.

Only I wasn’t in the parking lot at my office.

I was sitting at a stoplight … about a block and half away from my office.

And the light was green.

I noticed just a split second before the horns started blaring. Horrified, I quickly fished my keys out of my purse, re-started the engine and threw it in drive … scooting through the light just in time to leave a line of cars stuck behind me as it turned red again. I wrestled the seat belt on, and - about four seconds later - arrived safely at my destination.

For real this time.

It’s possible that I might need to consider a higher level of caffeine in the morning than my DC from McD provides.

[Note: the Mom in me thinks this is a very bad idea.]

I have no idea why I spaced like that. Maybe I time-traveled into the very near future for a sec, but snapped back to the present prematurely, thus causing myself confusion in the paradox of the space/time continuum.

[Note: the Nerd in me says, “Hells yeah!” even if I didn’t state that with any level of scifi authority.]

I shrugged it off and went on with my day.  At lunch, I left to do some banking and grab a bite to eat.  I pulled into the bank’s drive-through, signed the checks I was having cashed, and reaching for the sucky tube thing … realized the bank was gone.

It moved.

Last week.

I mean the building is still there, but the bank is closed; the building is empty. And I knew this because my office faces the abandoned bank. In fact, my desk faces the window with a full view of the abandoned bank.  I’ve noticed. This was not news to me today.

What gives? I’m preoccupied this week with several personal and professional projects. I’m task-centered, checking off this and that from my list of demands-on-me and trying to move on to the next big thing. And so I am not noticing what’s going on around me at any particular moment.

Or maybe I need an MRI.

[Note: the Hypochondriac in me says, “I knew it. Sigh …”]

Anyway, the rest of my day went off without a hitch once I put away the to-do list. I just did what needed to be done in the present without worrying about what was waiting. Funny thing is, it all got done. And I didn’t get lost, confused or cause anyone to sit through two red lights.

Some days are like that: you spin until you spiral. Stop the wheel. Step back, right yourself, shake the dizziness and take a look around.

There’s always some sweetness to be savored if you take the time to taste.

Especially if it’s in the form of a DC from McD.