A Swiss Cheese Day

Today was one of those days that just wasn't going to flow smoothly no matter what I did! I started the day out by oversleeping and having to rush to get to an appointment. When I called to say that I was going to be late, they told me not to bother coming...all their computer systems were down. So I ran another errand thinking the first course of business would call me back and tell me to come. Well they did, but only when I was racing out the door to my next appointment. I agreed to stop in before they closed at 7 pm, but when I got there at 6:45 pm, they had already closed.

An afternoon at the Ohio Historical Society with a couple of cousins was equally frustrating: The locker I put my things in took my quarter and wouldn't lock, the restroom was out of toilet paper, the book I needed wasn't available, and a series of volunteer and employee errors put me into a tailspin trying to get a copy of my grandfather's death certificate. Finally when I sat down with the right roll of microfilm, the machine didn't work! After some jostling around by the staff, we got it to work, but for the oddest reason, the document I was chasing had been skipped. The records went from #64115 to #64117. The librarian finally took my request, went to another floor to locate the original document and copied it for me. What should have taken 15 minutes, took over 2 hours!

The confusion and frustration didn't end there! An evening that was supposed to be spent with out of town family members was also cancelled which upset a few other plans. My husband and I finally retreated to a favorite vegetarian restaurant and collapsed over a simple meal.

When I worked for a local hospital, we had a training on what they called the "Swiss Cheese Theory." A patient comes to the hospital with a complaint and goes into, say, the Emergency Room. While there, some mistake is made...some test not recorded, some background information not gathered, something small. After the patient is admitted to the hospital, another person makes another, different mistake...possibly based on the previous error. It is the idea that at every level the patient falls through some hole in the system and ultimately suffers a much more severe problem (possibly death!) than what he originally came to the hospital for. (This made a big impression on me because my aunt had died in that very hospital as a result of such a situation!)

I felt like I had fallen through every hole in a big hunk of cheese today! Fortunately for me, I know enough to not turn to food anymore to choke out the anger and frustration that a day like this can bring. I noticed I still had a smile on my face when I realized the restaurant restroom was out of TP! There was none in the bathroom at home either! Good thing I keep an extra stash!

Today I had:

Breakfast: A green smoothie with apple, grapes, banana, collards and dino kale.

Lunch: Salad with sprouts, shallots and tomato with lemon juice, olive oil and sea salt.

Supper: Mixed greens salad with a little vinegar and oil and a "Shooting Star Smoothie" with orange, carrot, lemon and ginger.

Snack: My own "trail mix"...almonds, cashews, raisins and goji berries.

Did not Body Flex today.