Tuesday, October 21, 2008

So tell me how you really feel...

First some background information: Mark and I have had several tests this week, along with presentations and lab work for patients to prepare for. Needless to say, my house looks like a tornado ran through it (for example, the living room is now home to a rolling computer chair and ghetto card table, complete with wax chippings, alcohol lamp, denture teeth, and various dental instruments, all positioned directly in front of the tv, in the center of the room), and I am stressed out just sitting in it. But I do have time to blog???

Well, I am sitting on the couch tonight finishing up my powerpoint presentation for rounds tomorrow, and my doorbell rings. It's late evening, probably 8:30 or so. I figure it's probably Ryan and TJ, and I am glad because I had a clinical question to ask Ryan's opinion on for my presentation tomorrow. Well, it wasn't Ryan and TJ. It was my visiting teachers, and apparently I was not that happy to see them. Instead of saying, "Hello..." or "Come on in..." I say (in what Mark describes as a rather mean, irritated tone), "Did you guys call???" The quiet one of the two meekly says, "Yeah, I called on Sunday and left a message on your phone..." But did I snap out of it then? No... To that response I add, "Well, did you call my phone or my husband's phone?" She says, "Oh, I don't know..." So I tell them Mark's phone is the one in the ward list, and that I would like them to call mine from now on (I grab a pen for them to write the number down), since I don't check Mark's messages. What is WRONG with me??? Meanwhile, Starkisha is yapping up a storm in my arms, and it is just about this point that I realize how completly rude I am.

So I start damage control, dump Starkisha off with Mark in the other room, and proceed to backtrack with the visiting teachers. I ask them to please excuse my disaster of a house and explain that I have had several tests this week along with a presentation to prepare for tomorrow morning. I tell them they are welcome to come in (although I don't know how convincing I was), but that I only have a few minutes, since I need to finish my presentation. Needless to say, they offer to catch up with me next month, since I am obviously extremely busy right now. I thank them for coming by, and in the spirit of attempting to salvage any civility which apparently waved bye-bye to me long ago, I apologize for the fact that I was not expecting them tonight (which I think at that point was probably just rubbing salt in the wound), and tell them I will see them next time.

So hopefully I didn't just drive two people away from the church. I guess I was just having an off night...