You know the saying from Finding Nemo, “Just keep swimming.”? I think that’s my motto for the day. I had to be back in State College last night for a meeting early this morning, 8:30am to be exact. Woke up at 7 this morning, tired as all get out for some reason, hit snooze twice, but still managed to be out the door at 8:10…which is a little late start to the morning.
On this commute, you have to take I-99 mostly to get to Bellefonte, so I hopped on the interstate, only to be stopped by the popo for riding dirty right before entering into Rockview Prison territory. Just my luck. Surprisingly, I was more calm than I thought I would be. I got my license and registration ready for him to come to the window. I knew I was speeding. The speed limit is 55, but no one goes 55…Anyway, he informed me that I was going 73 in the 55, 18 over the speed limit. Ouch. So he said he would check those out and be back.
Judging by the amount of time it took to process my license I knew I was getting some kind of ticket. Comes back to the window with a $112 fine. Ugh. But he was “nice” and only gave me a traffic violation so I wouldn’t get any points, he also said it was cheaper than a speeding ticket. Then he told me to have a nice day, which I just feel is such an oxymoron after getting pulled over.
I made it to my meeting, only a few minutes late, after being passed by about 10 cars that were definitely going faster than 73 while I chugged along at 64….that’s besides the point though. I made it, and I had no clue what this meeting was about, I was just told that it was mandatory because it was important. The meeting was that UCBH in Centre County will no longer be having TSS services as of June 1st. This means that I am out of a TSS job.
I thought to myself, how ironic. I was hurrying to the meeting where I was going to lose my job and got a speeding ticket on the way. How quickly and suddenly life can throw punches our way, but you know what? I’m not going down without a fight. This didn’t discourage me today, even though all of this happened because 9am, I was not going to let that ruin my day, and it hasn’t, especially because I quickly found my silver lining.
I received a phone call last night from an Auctioneer in State who wants me to work with them in getting internet auctions ready. Finally, a niche. I will be using my license for the greater good, and it’s not retail where they expect me to work weekends. I go tonight to meet with him and his business partner to see if it looks like a fit to me. I missed the call last night, and got a call back with morning after I got back from the terrible morning I had had.
The old Stephanie about a year ago would have been devastated by all this news at once, but the new Stephanie was not letting that happen. Kick me when I’m up and kick me when I’m down. There are always ways in which it could be worse. The popo could have given me a real speeding ticket, I could have been a full-time TSS losing my only source of income, and I could have class tonight (but thanks to the holiday, I don’t!).
We don’t always realize how blessed we really are even multiple punches can be thrown our way in just a matter of hours. I thank God for my health, my family, friends, my abilities, and most of all for every day that I get to wake up. Along with the bad eventually comes the good if we look hard enough, I’m not going to let this day get me down. I actually already finished 2 assignments, and I’m working on finishing a paper!
Count your blessings, don’t be afraid to fail. Pick yourself up and dust off, there’s a lot ahead of you, and it’s more fun if you have a positive outlook on things. 🙂