I went out to my driveway early Wednesday morning to realize that my newspaper person had left me Tuesday’s edition for the second morning in a row.
“If I’m going to have a ‘Groundhog Day’ experience of living the same day over and over again,” I thought to myself, “I’d just as soon it not be Tuesday.”
Tuesday started out the same way most other week days do; I went to work and immediately started stamping out small fires.
Most days don’t bring a major crisis, but 10 or 12 small ones in a tight enough space can still add up to an Excedrin moment.
Those complaints turned suddenly moot when the school nurse informed my wife that my 11-year old girl was complaining of neck pain and a loss of peripheral eyesight.
There are Excedrin moments and then there are Excedrin moments.
So we decided that my wife would take off work to take my daughter in for an emergency room CAT scan while I continued on with crisis management.
After several tense hours the doctors informed us that tests were all negative and that things returned to normal after she ate, giving the doctors reason to believe that the episode was brought on by low blood sugar and the fact that my daughter hadn’t eaten much all day.
So my wife decides to go through with a previously planned vet appointment because our four-year old yellow lab was acting lethargic.
When I was leaving work I received my second emotional call of the day.
Blood tests showed that our family pet is severely anemic and would probably require an extremely expensive (we don’t have dog health insurance) blood transfusion and treatment and even that wouldn’t cure the as-yet unidentified underlying problem.
We would have to consider the humane alternative of ending her life.
My wife was in tears; our girls inconsolable.
Like I said, there are Excedrin moments and then there are Excedrin moments.
After discussing options with the veterinarian, we decided to try iron supplements and steroids in the hopes of raising her red blood cell count and her energy.
There are still no guarantees.
What do I take away from Tuesday?
Two things.
Always ask yourself: Is a crisis at work really a crisis?
And, if like the movie I find myself reliving one day over and over again, could I please be under blue skies out on a golf course?
NOTE I'd like to add my voice in offering condolances to the family of Erie ad man and blogger Jack Tirak, who passed away Tuesday night.
Jack held the media's feet to the fire through his blog site, counting down the days until the digital conversion in February.
To be honest, Jack and I didn't always agree, and I admit to some frustration when his observations from the outside didn't mesh with what I knew was happening as someone on the inside.
But his love of media and new technology was unmistakable, and his voice coupled with his willingness to share space for the voices of others kept all of us on our toes.
And, hey, isn't that what the First Amendment is really all about?