misery index

this afternoon a friend called to vent because her car (newly purchased, but not loved) is vexing her; required repairs unacceptably incomplete, but no rental car allowance in the offing. the inconvenience is putting a big damper on weekend plans of sunny wine-soaked leisure. and OH! the humiliation of a kia vs. a saab. ;) but she wrapped up her rant by offering that she then considered my sorry-ass state and realized she had nothing on me!(please note: this index ends in 2001. presumably #43 et al can't see their way to publishing a current chart...)

i shared the laugh and understood the spirit of what she meant (yup, everything for me pretty much sucks ass right now...) but damming my potential hysterics was a heroic feat. i never was that person dwelling under a black cloud. never. i was always perceived as in control, independent, strong. the friend to come to when *you* were having a crisis.

indeed the metaphorical tectonic plates in my world shifted and havoc ensued. (aftershocks continue to rumble, albeit at smaller measure on my personal richter scale.) most people think of that sort of unpredicted geologic calamity, and think san andreas fault. the golden gate bridge imploding, san francisco burning and mudslides rushing stilted aeries into the sea. out there, the plates move side-by-side, essentially smashing one against another. but here, we're closest to the mid-atlantic range, where the plates spread further and further apart, eventually causing collapse. a crevasse opens wide, and the earth as once known never is the same again.