Murphy is not my friend

Murphy's Law is the rule, not the exception in my life.

Example #1:

In a mere four days, I will be boarding a plane with my family to head off to the land of the long white cloud, Aotearoa. There will be laughter, libations and for me, there will be work. Of course. For the last several weeks, I have carefully planned for this extended vacation. I've informed my clients, pushed to have meetings moved up and generally been doing everything in my power to ensure that I can have this time unencumbered with career obligations.

But it is not to be and that's ok because I understand that business moves on regardless of my scheduled holidays and having to complete some light follow up is a small price to pay to have the gift of working from home.

Example #2:

Remember the dog I told you about? Well, Dallas and I had to call the police over last week because it got so bad. The officer was a huge, hulking chunk of man who was surprisingly gentle in his conversation with us. He was quite willing to go knock on our neighbour's door but suggested it might be better received if we made that visit first before sending someone in uniform over. I despise confrontation. My husband avoids it like the plague, as well. We were both squeamish at the thought of having to confront these people about their dog. We were also resentful at having to go over there in the first place because it was our belief that they had to know there was a problem and were just choosing to ignore it.

Well yesterday, my landlady dropped by to pick up a package that had been shipped to our house instead of hers. We chat and she tells me that the people with the dog lost their four year old child last year. I cannot even imagine. It's my guess that the sound of their barking dog is easily muted by the deafening silence of a dead child's empty room. We will put up with the noise.

Finally, I have example #3 which hasn't happened yet:

I am pretty sure that first thing Tuesday morning, in the midst of harried, final packing preparations and before we leave for the airport, my daughter will be sitting in an orthodontist's chair requiring an adjustment to her upper appliance. We have been monitoring things for a couple of days now since it was installed but I just know, given the way my family rolls, that we will get one last opportunity to wish our orthodontist and his staff a Merry Christmas.

Mark. My. Words.