This will come as no surprise to anyone including me. I am not always "Johnny-on-the-spot" when it comes to connecting the dots. As they say, "Denial isn't just a river in Egypt." It had been a long day.
Actually, that's not really true. It had not been a long day. It had been a good day. It had been a productive day. Our board met at a residential school in Washington, D.C. Our schedule was tight, and we worked through lunch. Did I mention that I chose to skip breakfast yesterday morning. The hotel where I was staying had a restaurant, but with coffee and tip, it would have been close to $40 for an order of pancakes. I wasn't that hungry at the beginning of the day.
Some of you are thinking I need to wake up and "smell the roses." We have moved past the 1980s and breakfast is more expensive than it used to be. When I walked out of the hotel to wait for my ride from a couple of board members, I met a lady who was apparently was also staying at the hotel. She was not having a good day.
I won't say that smoke was coming out of her ears, but she was not a happy camper. She had gotten a ticket for parking too close to a fire-hydrant. By her own admission, she didn't see it. Her name is Shelby. She is an event planner from North Carolina.
She said, "Where I'm from, fire hydrants are painted red. My brother is a fireman. I ought to know." In Washington, D.C., fire hydrants are painted green." The one she was parked in front of included hedges and other small plants. When she showed me a picture of the fire hydrant, I could understand her confusion. The fire hydrant blended in with an attractive array of green plants. The landscaped look was attractive.
She was killing time and waiting for city-hall to open. She was going to protest the ticket and she wasn't planning to take "No" for an answer. I shared my belief that she had a good case but cautioned that sometimes the force of reason falls short of the abilities of some. It goes without saying that is often true of people in Washington.
I asked permission to take a picture of her picture of the fire hydrant and a picture of Shelby for my blog this morning. Disappointingly, I'm sharing her story, but the "rest of my story" will explain the absence of the pictures.
The two board members who picked me up yesterday morning, insisted on driving me back to my hotel. When we got to the corner of the street where the hotel was located, it was not possible to make a left turn. I voluntarily said, "I'll get out here. There is no traffic" and out the door I bolted dragging my backpack out with me.
Forty-five minutes to an hour later, I realized that I had misplaced my phone. Like I said, Denial is not just a river in Egypt. I looked everywhere more than once. Isn't that dumb? The phone was not in my room. I had left my phone in the car that was now long gone.
All My Best!
Don
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