Michelle and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

I’m just going to say it: today has been a crap day. From start to finish, things have not worked in my favor. Today I am feeling very much like Alexander during his infamous no good, very bad day. In fact, I did something that I very rarely do; I had a temper tantrum of my very own. Let’s discuss…

You know those times when you wake up mad at your spouse because you dreamed they were mean to you? Mine was like that, only it was Patrick Stewart. I realize this sounds funny but the last thing I did on the internet was look at a pic of him goofing off around NYC with Ian McKellen, so there you go. Waking up after dreaming of rudeness left me in a slightly grumpy mood. After trying to shake it off in the shower, I joined my son in the living room and spent the next hour begging, bribing and threatening Little Man into being quiet so Baby Girl could sleep. 

Two of my favorite actors. They know what they did.

I then grabbed my laptop where first email I saw  was from the only licensed hair stylist on base saying she’s not accepting new clients. She very kindly asked me to check back in March. Ladies, you know how devastating news like this can be especially if you just left a stylist you love on the other side of the world. I started running through my list of to-do’s feeling a bit overwhelmed and decided to try and bake a little something for my neighbor. And then the worst thing in the whole wide world happened. I didn’t have the proper sized baking sheet.

This truly insignificant problem I faced was enough for me to have a temper tantrum right there in my kitchen. The kind I would normally send my children off to their rooms for. And then something even worse happened; my mood started rubbing off on Little Man and Baby Girl. My son was talking back and yelling while my daughter was throwing her body on the floor and feeding the dog off the table. 

She's mad because she didn't want to make her own Lego rocket.

There are days when I am more excited for nap time than I am for Christmas. Today was one of those days but alas, it was just as bad as the morning.  Thirty minutes in, my son’s alarm clock went off. An hour in he woke up with sleep terrors. And then again at the hour and a half mark. Two hours later the house was finally quiet when my husband walked in the door a couple of hours early, which woke up both kids for good.

My son's favorite book and today's general theme.

I sit here on the floor in my kitchen, tired and overwhelmed and asking myself why I gave in to the misplaced anger I felt towards a baking sheet, the single choice I made kicking off this long awful day (I have forgiven Sir Patrick as he was a figment of my imagination an cannot be held responsible). It occurs to me I have been feeling isolated and a loss of independence that are directly related to our move two months ago. Isolation because there are only a handful of hours when my loved ones back home and I are awake at the same time. This thought alone makes me feel far away. And the loss of independence because we have only one car which my husband uses to go to work. Sure there are other ways of getting around like walking everywhere or the shuttle, but these are not always practical options. Now there must be planning in order to run a simple errand. 

Look, we all have moments of insanity. I have forgiven myself and so has my family for behaving like a 2 year old. And rather than continuing the pity party (sorry no balloons at this kind of shindig) I have decided to take action. I borrowed a baking sheet. We'll have a second car by Friday. I will Skype and call my loved ones whenever I feel alone and will work harder to put myself out there when meeting new people. And I will have a much deserved glass of wine. Today sucked. But some days are like that. Even in Japan.

Drinky-poo