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Have you ever had one of those days?

My Dearly Beloved.....(sigh).....I am here to testify that sometimes just getting through a day is a miracle in itself. Today was one of those days. I don't mean to complain, but - just how much can one person do to stay sane in today's world or is there something to be learned from adversity? It started out with my son desperately needing a car....but before he could buy a car, he would have to get his license straightened out.
I will spare you all of the details with this bulleted summary of what happened.

• Left my place with my dog, Kato, in North Barrington, drove 15 miles and arrived at my son's apartment (I call him "J") in Sleepy Hollow around 11:00 PM on 6/17/09 after working all day around the house.
• Played around with the animals and gave J a haircut so he would take a better picture for his license the next morning.
• Went to bed around 1:00 AM, with my alarm set for 7:15. My son wanted to be at the DMV at exactly 8:00 AM to avoid the lines.
• Didn't sleep very well in different surroundings. I love my son, but still.....
  
• Woke at 6:45 and thought, "What's the point in going back to sleep now? I just have 30 more minutes....can't get into a deep sleep anyway.
• Went ahead and got up and fed all the animals.
• Loaded up J and Kato and drove 6 miles to the DMV, dropped off J to get his license straightened out and went to my daughter's place 2 miles away to drop of Kato and wait for J to call.
• Arrived in Shannon's driveway and my son called - "Gotta pay fines before I can get a license.....just take me home."
• Went back to DMV and drove 3 miles towards Sleepy Hollow trying to figure out how to get a car so he can work the next day
• I got a brainstorm and turned around headed back towards Elgin, because my daughter got a car with a less than stellar record.....I asked her for advice.
• Turned back around after a mile, heading back for Sleepy Hollow because she said she "knew someone."
  
• Unfortunately, that "someone" skipped town and has never been heard from since.
• Arrived back at son's apartment and made about 40 phone calls trying to find a way to get a car.
• Vic Giannotti called and asked if I would entertain on July 31st at the restaurant. KEWL.
  
• Cell Phone became very hot and started burning my ear and had to charge it while I was talking. Which option do we go with?
  
• Went to bank to get money to help J buy a car from option one.
• Found out from the bank teller that I need a photo ID...not just my credit card like the first guy told me...."Yes, Ma'am.....that's all you need - just your card....it says right here."
• Bank Teller says, "They don't know what they are talking about....they are associated with us, but not really a part of us....know what I mean?" Right.
  
• Couldn't find my license with a photo....Good Lord - now's not the time to lose things.
• Doubled back to son's apartment from the bank.
• Went back to DMV - 6 mile drive again - to get another license, but looked really crappy from lack of sleep, no comb for my hair and make-up from night before still smeared all over....Thank God for sunglasses.
• Stopped by Shannon's house to take a shower so I can get another picture taken.
• Realized I forgot my make-up case at J's house.
• Jumped back in my van to go to Walgreen's (which was closer) to buy make-up.
• That little trip cost me $24.00, but it was buy one - get one free, even though it wasn't my favorite brand. What the heck - it was on sale.
  
• Came back to daughter's and took a shower & put on Make-up.
• I got a call from Caroline who asked me if I would do music for an event next week on Wednesday. Yep - I'm free, so I'll be there! Woo-Hoo!
  
• Son calls and said he called Courthouse and they told him he still has driving privileges and his car lot of choice told him if he brought in his $500.00 DP and a copy of his public driving record (costs $12.00) they could sell him a car complete with insurance today.
• I go back to the DMV - which meant I didn't need to borrow money on my credit card anymore, because all I needed to do was pick up a copy of J's record. He told me all I had to do was pay them $12.00 - THAT'S IT - Just pay them $12.00.
  
• Stood in line for 15 mins.
• Finally got to desk and there's a sign that says they accept every major debit and credit card except for VISA.
• I have VISA.
• She said I could give them a check, to which I said, "Great!! I have a check!!"
• My checks were at my daughter's house.
• Go back to daughter's house - 2 miles away - and got checkbook.
• Go back to DMV - stand in line 5 mins.
• Got to front desk with checkbook and they gave me papers to fill out to obtain son's public driving record.
• The lady with the bug eyes and scowl on her face tells me I need a picture ID to get his records and to get my ID, all I need is my Social Security Card.
• JUST SO HAPPENS I HAVE MY SOCIAL SECURITY CARD!!!! YAY!
  
• At my daughter's house.
• Get back in car and go to Shannon's house and get SS card.
• Go back to DMV and wait in line just a couple of minutes.
• Paid $20.00 and got my ID.
• Vittorrio called and asked if I would sing at T'Amo on Golf Blvd. in Scaumburg, Friday night and I told him I'd be there!
  
• Took my ID back to front desk and filled out papers for son's public driving record.
• Paid $12.00 and got the record.
• Went back to daughter's house to pick up other son, Chris, to take him to J's place to hang for a few days....Chris had to leave his dog, Max, at my daughter's place, because J isn't allowed to have a Pit Bull in his apartment.
• Max didn't have any food, so I had to go to Jewel to buy a bag of food for the dog and a bag for the cat.
• Came back to my daughter's house and Chris jumped in the car and we drove to J's apartment.
• Chris went in and J came out. I was going to give J a ride to the car dealership to pick out a car, because the salesman told him to just bring in that $500.00 DP and that driving record and he WILL leave with a car tonight.
• On the way from J's house to Rt. 31, Rebecca Darr from WINGS called and told me the paperwork finally came in from the State of Illinois and Dream For The Stars is now legally incorporated. I did catch that in the midst of my head spinning from the day's events.
  
• I was going to take my son to get a car and leave straight from the dealership to work, because I had a show Thursday night.
• We were supposed to take I-90 to I-355 to get to Glendale Heights, where the dealership is.
• My car - by this time - was out of gas from all the driving I did today.
  
• Went passed I-90 looking for a gas station - by this time I'm totally drained, because it was 6:15 and I had been going non-stop since I got up at 6:45 after 5 hours of sleep.
• The gas station that used to be on the corner has a "FOR SALE" sign stuck on the pumps.
• Unbelieveable - we are almost back to where my daughter lives now.
• Gas station is just ahead.
• The next stoplight, I stepped on my brakes and the pedal went all the way to the floor - NO BRAKES.
• I'm kinda freakin', because I almost hit the lady in front of me. Thank God I didn't.
• Praying, "Oh, LORD - get me to my daughter's place safely!!!! It was only about a mile away.
• Miracle of miracles - it was uphill all the way to get to Shannon's apartment.
• Made it to Shannon's without incident and her friend (who is a mechanic) told me that the brake cylinder was blown and pointed out the leaking fluid from the area of the back tire.
• Dealership was going to close at 8:00, so Shannon took J to the dealership to get his car while I stayed at her place to figure out how to get to work. Just so happens that tonight, of all nights, is the very first night of the talent competition and it was expected to be very crowded - and it was. :'(
• Couldn't find a way to work - so here I am writing this to help myself decompress. I never miss work - ever.....can't fret over it now, because there's absolutely nothing I can do. Too late to get my van fixed and nobody around to help me get to work.
• Called son at 8:00 to see what kind of car he got, but said that salesman didn't know what he was talking about....everything he brought in wasn't what was needed to get a car.
• Shannon took J back home.
• We'll have to start again tomorrow to get my van fixed so I won't miss another night's work on Friday and try to find a car for J so he can at least go to work on Saturday.
• Now - what did I get out of all this?
• It's a miracle that I didn't hit that lady at the stoplight.
• It's a miracle that it was all uphill to Shannon's house.
• It's a miracle that the brakes blew just one mile away from where I could park my car and be safe at Shannon's.
• If my car didn't need gas and we went straight up on I-90 instead of looking for a gas station, the brakes would have blown out on the Interstate when I was traveling at a higher rate of speed.
  
• If I hadn't done all of that running around all day in town, my brakes would have blown out on me at 2:00 in the morning, on the side of the road, coming home from work with thousands of dollars of equpment in my car.
• I missed a night of work, but I'm still in one piece....that's something to be thankful for.
• Oh, yeah - I picked up 3 extra gigs, which will make up for the one I missed tonight, even though I really wanted to be at HAWTHORN'S BACKYARD in West Chicago. Frank and Lou are awesome.

I guess it's all in the way you look at things.