A Day Described by the Sky

Today was interesting in several ways.

The weather seemed to directly reflect my day. It was clear, but brisk. Earlier in the day, the sky was layered with clouds like a person with much to do is layered with concerns. But the light was fantastic. Each cloud had a grey center that gradually became white and fluffy then shone brilliantly at its outer edges.

Breakfast was like that. I met with my friend Danny at Eggspectations. That ‘s a place where you go for strong coffee and expensive staples. The atmosphere is great. Very creative, with hand-forged egg whisks in wrought iron as door handles, and funky menus. The food is very good and nicely presented. At the end of the day, or even at the beginning, it’s still just eggs and stuff. Strangely, I’d go again. Yummy.

That was the clear part of my day. When I got back home, I was on the hunt of all hunts. I was looking for information from what seems several lifetimes ago. Frankly, I was searching for stuff I’d rather forget. But it was stuff my prospective employer seems to need to hire me. Well, I found some of it. Things I had pleasantly forgotten were brought to the fore of my memory and I included them in my updated resume. So there. Now I was ready to send it off.

Did I mention that the day clouded over in the afternoon? No? Well, it did. And it was blustery. No. Scratch that. It was Blustery! Yup, just when I couldn’t get enough of the sunshine all those brilliantly lit clouds I mentioned earlier must have arrived at a cloud convention, because the next time I looked up it was one huge cloud. Like the others it was grey in the center. It’s just that the center went all the way to the edges. As if that weren’t enough of a stark change, that Blustery day apparently dropped trees on power lines, because we were doing without beginning around noon.

No power is good and bad. It’s good in that it forced me to pack up my laptop and get out of the house. That’s always nice. It’s also good because it gave me an appreciation for quiet. In our house there is almost always a hum. Here in our living room is my computer and the Other computer (read: not a Mac). Both are almost always on, humming quietly away. Even when they are off, there is the hum of the refrigerator or the whirring of the dishwasher or the chug and swish of the laundry. But when the power is out, there is none of that. It’s nice. It’s peaceful. It’s annoying. It’s unfortunate. Because today of all days I NEEDED the computer to be working. And it was. It’s a laptop and even when the power went out, the laptop chugged happily away as it automatically converted to battery power. But the modem, the router, the printer and everything else stopped. Dead. That’s when I packed up and headed for the library.

Heading to the library? Yes. I needed to return books anyway, and I simply prayed that they had power. They did. I got a good seat near the window and continued revamping my resume. On the way out, I picked up several compact discs to rip and add to my online music library. And it was on the way to the library that I realized those water spots on my windshield weren’t water until they hit the windshield. In fact, some of them were going up before they came down. They were … swirling …and water doesn’t swirl except in whirlpools and drains. So this must be … No! But it was. Snowflakes. Lovely.

I got my work done and returned home. Still no power, but I did have a phone call from the regional recruiting office. I was in, as far as they were concerned. Congratulations and welcome aboard and all that. It was a nice message. But it didn’t get my resume into the right hands yet. So I went across the street to feed the horses. While I was down there, I suddenly realized that I was hearing things. Not mean or nasty things. Pretty things. It was classical music. And that doesn’t usually come from either end of a horse. I then deduced that it must be the radio. It was! We had power again. I watched anxiously as the lights dimmed then brightened. I didn’t think it would hold. But it did. So I finished feeding, went to band practice, returned home, and sent my updated resume to the powers that be.

At its end, this has been a good day, but the flurry of activity, the anxiety, the powerlessness, and the peace were all wonderfully reflected in the ever-changing skies of Maryland.