Six-Six-What?

For a day that was supposed to be a really bad one, thanks to a set of three repetitive numbers (No, I won’t say them…Yes, I am superstitious), it turned out to be pretty good.

The time seemed ripe for bad news. May wasn’t exactly a stellar month on the stock market. In Iraq, the alleged massacre in Haditha just keeps rolling like a snowball downhill. The country is calling “shenanigans” on our current administration. And 7th Heaven got renewed on TV after they supposedly aired the “series finale!” Oh yes…if Lucifer was going to show-up, this was the time.

Even at work yesterday, the date loomed above our heads. While my boss and my teammates joked about it, there was no denying that my boss moved over her days off by one day and rearranged all her doctor’s appointments to occur tomorrow, not today as she had planned a few weeks ago. Everyone kind of tipped-toed around the subject by mentioning that they were excited to see the remake of “The Omen,” but that somehow didn’t seem right either. It was like the moment the words rolled off of their tongues, they flinched and quickly moved on to any topic but that one.

It didn’t help that when I woke up this morning, all the morning news anchors and radio DJs were pointing out the obvious after reporting car accidents, police affairs, and local politics.

But when I woke up this morning, I was determined to not let THAT set of numbers rule my entire day, only part of it. (NO…I won’t say it. I may be cheeky, but I’m not stupid!) While I wasn’t going to go out and do anything risky like decide to sky dive or drink heavily, I wasn’t going to be gloomy. Rather than go and dunk myself in the holy water baptismal font at my church, I was going to treat this day of days like a regular one. I was going to make this date a memorable one…for all the right reasons!

And I think because I decided not to look at the calendar – I had one kick ass day! I beat the dark master himself. Take that, Satan!

I credit the fact that I told myself it was all in my head. I can understand being a little cautious…but it seemed to be getting out of hand! There was an article in our Sunday paper this week that spoke about expectant mothers who were due on today’s date. They swore up and down that they were going to hold out until Wednesday if they didn’t go into labor on Monday. The church parking lot was full for morning chapel as I drove by it.

I’ll admit, I took some precautions. I avoided dark clothing. But, I got complimented on the delicate green skirt and pink blouse combo I chose to wear today. And it turned out to be a popular choice. Or maybe everyone had the same idea. My entire team (including my boss who HATES frilly colors) wore variations of pink or green. This caused my boss to freak out a little (she thinks we all share a brain anyway), but it made the rest of us laugh.

Not leaving anything to chance today, I divided my schedule into a “Do BEFORE lunch” and a “Do AFTER lunch” task list. Methodically I worked through the mundane reporting and stamped out the small fires that arise in my office everyday. Even when my computer shut down for some unexplained reason (TWICE!) and my lunch got delayed by an hour and a half, I took a deep breath and kept plugging away. Soon…I even forgot about the date. And then really good things started happening.

At my first training session of the day, (over the phone training is the norm in our company), an Account Executive said in front of his customers, “Lily, I love you” after giving what he thought was one of the best presentations ever to a demanding client. I figured out a way to get one of our other clients to get off their duffs and finish training on a product we introduced to them 3-months ago. I managed to be a few minutes early to each meeting and appointment I had today. And at the end of the day…

“A Local Bank Somewhere, this is Lily, how can I assist you?”

“Hey, Lily…I have good news for you!” It was one of my co-workers.

“Oh, good news? What is it?”

“Security just called,” WAIT! How is that GOOD NEWS? “There’s a flower delivery for you up in the front.”

“Flowers?” I slumped back in my chair, wondering. Lenny hadn’t screwed up lately to warrant flowers. But hey, who am I to complain?

It turns out, the flowers were from one of my East Coast clients as a thank you for some work I had been doing with him over the last few weeks (He was a big spender – my bouquet was one of three given out in the office). I was stunned! The assistance I gave him wasn’t going the extra mile…it’s my job! As I set the flowers down next to my calendar, I laughed. What a way to end the day!

So as the sun sets on this “black” day…I laugh in the face of its negativity. I now have living proof that a set of numbers can’t really harm me. I mean, who cares if it’s oh-six-oh-six-oh…

Okay, I thought I could do it. I’ll just stop while I’m ahead and let the devil lick his wounds over this one. And tomorrow is (thankfully) really just another day!