One Inch At A Time

One Inch At A Time(Tom Di Roma) One Inch At A Time


There are days when I feel as if my life is creeping along one inch at a time, mostly because of all the delays I keep getting hit with. For instance, there was this one night when I was coming home from work. Normally, it takes me fifteen to twenty minutes to get home. But this one night, because of a bad accident that wasn’t even near where I was driving, I spent almost an hour stuck in traffic. When I finally got home, I found a note from my wife, who was out of the house, suggesting that I pick up something for supper from the supermarket around the corner.

Okay, I thought, I’ll get myself a couple of frozen dinners. But wouldn’t you know it, when I got in line, I found myself behind a woman who had to have two of her items checked for prices. And this was after the cashier had already scanned her previous twenty-something items, not to mention all the coupons she had. I would have switched lanes, but as soon as the other lane opened up, all five of the people behind me rushed over to that one. I found myself standing there trying to keep myself from getting even more frustrated than I already was.

And then if that wasn’t bad enough, when I got to my car, I discovered I couldn’t back out of my parking space right away. Why? It seemed the stop light at the entrance to the lot had picked that moment to break down, causing at least eight cars to back up, more than one of which was blocking me from leaving.

Once I got home, I heated up the two frozen dinners I had bought and then sat down to watch a baseball game on TV, which turned out to be one of the slowest games I’ve watched in a long time. Neither team seemed to be able to score until the twelfth inning.

Another delay came about a week later after I got a phone call from my brother who said he was coming into town for a conference and a visit. He asked me if I would pick him up at the airport the next day, which was a Saturday. Since I wasn’t planning on doing anything special, I said okay. He even texted me before he left and said everything was going smoothly.

Of course, after I got to the airport, I got another text from him that said his plane had been diverted, because a passenger had gotten sick, but now he was on his way again. I ended up spending nearly four hours waiting for him in the airport. At least the place had a decent restaurant, plus an area with comfortable chairs where you could watch a rented movie. Even though the movie cost me twenty bucks, it more than helped pass the time.

The next day, I was supposed to go with my wife to a friend of hers wedding. I asked her if it was okay if my brother came with us? After checking with the bridal party, she said yes, so we piled into my car and drove to the church. Of course, I couldn’t find a parking space right away, and then at the reception, the photographer took way more time than he should have with his picture taking. I was half drunk by the time the bridal party finally showed up.

The next day, after my brother was finished with his conference, my wife and I decided we would take him to a fancy restaurant we both liked a lot. Wouldn’t you know it, we picked the one night the place was overflowing — mostly because of all the people from the conference who showed up there. We ended up having to wait almost forty minutes before we could get a table. Once again, I was half drunk by the time we were seated.

At least, I didn’t have to drive my brother back to the airport; he took a shuttle, which was good because at work, the staff and I were busy with the same two pain in the butt projects we’d been dealing with for the past two weeks. I’m a graphic designer for a small advertising company. The owner, who is female, couldn’t decide on exactly what to say when it came to the copy. One day, she’d be satisfied with what we had then the next, she’d want to make changes. Even after we made all the ones she asked for, she wanted more changes. Thank God we had other less critical projects to work on, too!

And then there was the day I brought my car into the shop to have it repaired. Once again, another delay. After sitting there for nearly two hours, the mechanic came out to tell me that the part they needed had to be ordered. It was coming from Kentucky and would take about three days to arrive. It took five; the plane had to be grounded because of mechanical problems.

This was my life — one delay after another, after another! And then suddenly, things turned around. No more delays! Everything seemed to go really smoothly. Thank God! I could finally do things without having to feel as if time itself was being dragged through a thick vat of molasses. I really thought my luck was turning around, especially after I discovered I had won five thousand dollars in the lottery! Yah-hoo!!

Except . . . there was a slight catch. It seemed our state was having a cash flow problem. The lottery people told me there might be more than a six month delay before I could receive my winnings.
Yeah, that figured. What else is new?