I need to look at things as positively as possible today. I’m a person who likes to plan a day and flit right through it. When things shift or abruptly bottom out, I do not like it Sam I Am.

My plans for today were: 1) Go to the social security office and get Dev’s social security card updated into his American name (yet another hassle the government throws at adoptive parents); 2) Have lunch with my new boss; 3) Leave town to visit my mom for a couple of days.

You could probably guess that item #1 wasn’t the breeze I wanted it to be. Even when I made every attempt to be thorough. I downloaded the form, completed it, then collected all of the supporting documents I thought I’d need. Then I waited in line for more than an hour. Only to find out we never received a specific document from the courthouse, which was, of course, required to complete my transaction. Urgh.

Item #2? That one worked out fine.

And then there’s item #3. Not a minor one since it involved some packing and some driving and the expectation from my mom that I was going to be spending some time with her. That trip was by the message on my voicemail when I returned from my frustration in item #1: a call from the dentist’s office reminding me of my appointment tomorrow morning. Nice. I hate scheduling those things six months out and then forgetting I have one until the day before. So trip to visit my mom? Canceled.

A little shopping therapy helped me through the disappointment, so I’m all better now.