Jinxed -- By Robin

I know I have my health, so in the scheme of things, I can't complain.

But, I must vent.

This was my birthday week....my final year as a 40-something, and I have to say I feel jinxed. Little went as planned....including the piece-de-resistance that happened today.

I've always been one who believes staunchly that everything happens for a reason, though we don't always know why. So, if I apply that philsophy to this week, I must come to terms with what the universe is trying to tell me. And, I find myself sitting here contemplating what that is. What is the lesson I'm supposed to learn? Is it more than one? Did I really need for this it cap it off to get it?

Here goes the events of this week.

Saturday we had decided to celebrate my birthday (which was actually 8/11). My husband suggested we take my son into the city to go on a boat ride, walk around a bit, and then have dinner out.

After getting stuck in crazy tourist crowds and traffic and waiting on line in the heat at the Pier to buy tickets for a speed boat ride called The Beast, I am told about the horrific private plane/helicopter crash over the Hudson. All passengers on both vehicles were killed and it happened just a couple of hours before we got there, and we had not heard about it. So, as a result, any boat that would normally head down the Hudson toward the Statue of Liberty wasn't running at that moment. So, that squashed our boat ride plans. In addition to the fact that we felt terrible about the tragic aircraft accident and grieved for the families. And, felt for the tourists who were psyched to take a Circle Line or Beast ride around Manhattan, and now would not get the opportunity.

Then, we had dinner plans at a restaurant called Nougatine. It is a more casual, lesser priced restaurant, an offshoot of Jean Georges. We had gone there for brunch and enjoyed it. This was our first dinner experience. I wasn't overly in the mood to go there, but my husband, meaning well for my birthday, thought it was a nice choice. Well, we should have trusted my gut. We hated the meal and wound up leaving. We started with a Caesar Salad, that tasted unlike any I had had before, and not in a good way. Then, my son ordered a cheeseburger, and it turned out the cheese was a pepper jack cheese. They didn't ask us what kind of cheese he would like, so he refused to eat it because it "had a kick." My husband and I both ordered a salmon dish and after waiting for like 1/2 an hour to get it, it came cold and tasteless (in my opinion). So, we sent them back and I was not inclined to choose anything else on the menu. Nothing jumped out at me, and I was, in general, turned off to the restaurant. So, we left, after eating bread and soda and a bit of the Caesar Salad. We stopped at a diner on the way home and ate there.

Yesterday, my friend Alli came over to take my out for a post-birthday celebration. We booked massages at a local spa in town and had planned to have a nice dinner in the city before seeing a show. We wind up being late for the massage because I was having computer problems (which took seemingly forever to resolve). Luckily the spa was ok with our tardiness. And, in fact, they didn't rush us at all and encouraged us to enjoy the steam room and private hot tubs before our massages. I had never gone into a steam room before and had no idea what it would be like.

We stripped, and I had a small towel around me, and attempted to walk into this smokin' hot room where I couldn't see a thing, and I felt like I was on fire. After 1 minute in there, I nearly felt like crying. I was so uncomfortable with the experience that I bolted from the room. Then, they put me in a private hot tub which was not easy to climb into, and the water wasn't even that hot. So, I sat there feeling like I was taking a lukewarm bath that I really wasn't in the mood for.

Next came what they called the Rejuvenation/Meditation Room, which was basically a room that looked like a hut made of quartz stone where the floor was heated, and you were supposed to lay on the hard floor and soak in the heat. I managed to lay there for maybe 10 minutes and had enough. I really had come mostly for the massage and wanted to get on with it. Well, that proved a disappointment too. The only fun thing was that my friend and I were in the same room. But, they had us lay down on tables and didn't offer a sheet that we could cover ourselves with. So, we had to lay there with our bare butts sticking up until the masseuses came into the room. I don't know about you, but I'm quite modest, and I found this odd and not entirely respectful. Then, the masseuses barely spoke any english, and I hear my friend groaning...so I'm thinking she's really liking the deep tissue massage she's getting and is releasing tension. But, she actually couldn't communicate well with the masseuse to tell her it was too hard. Afterwards, it turned out that neither of us liked our massage. And, Alli, in particular is quite a massage regular, so she knows a really good one. And, she felt that these masseuses were likely not certified because they didn't use real techinique.

So, that was a total drag. And, because we spent time in the spa overall, we had cancelled our lovely Lebanese food dinner in the city and wound up doing take out Chinese food and eating it on the train into Manhattan to go see the show. Luckily, we did enjoy the play and the rain held off. So, I can't complain about that.

Today, I awoke yet again to computer problems. Because of that, I cancelled my son's morning haircut appointment and wound up taking him later in the day and then went to the paint store to get sample cans to test for our basement. We were in the paint store for less than 15 minutes, when we came out and my car was missing. I was in a state of panic. My cell phone was in the car, among other items, and I thought my car had been stolen. I stood there stunned. When I regained my composure, I decided to go into the deli in front of where I parked to mention that my car wasn't there. And, they said, "oh yeah....they saw it get towed." I could not believe it. I had parked, unknowingly, in an area that has meters (I had put in money) , but you still weren't supposed to park there from 4-7pm. This was 5:40 when we got there. I ran back to the paint store, which had now closed, and luckily one of the guys out front lent me his phone to call my husband who happened to be on the way home and was able to pick up me and my son. We drove back home quickly and after tracking down where to call re: the car, it turns out it was towed to Maspeth...no where near my home....and we would not be able to get it tonight because the pound closes at 7pm. So, my cell phone will be spending the night in the car.

I feel violated. Why couldn't I just get a ticket? Why did they have to take my car in less than 15 mintues? And, I saw other cars also illegally parked. Why weren't they towed? I presume it was luck of the draw against me. But, what is it about this week? What's going on? What are the lessons I'ms supposed to learn?

Is it that I'm letting the computer rule my life? Partly I think that's one of them. We would not have been late for the spa and I would not have gone to the paint store so late, had I not had computer problems. While I recognize all that the internet has to offer, it gets tiring being parked in front of the screen so much. I'm a people person, not a computer geek. I really doesn't suit me. So , perhaps I need to better examine the use of my screen time?

But, what else? Is it to learn to better go with the flow? Is it to understand that life is unpredictable and we don't always get what we want? (I don't expect to.)

I don't know. For now, I feel like a victim. I want my car back. And, I will never again leave my cell phone in it as I do errands.

And, I'll try to get over computer frustrations more quickly.

And, I'll appreciate what does go right in my life.

That's my takeaway for the moment.

And, I adore my son who exhibited so much compassion when the car was gone. At age six, while he was clearly scared and uncomfortable himself, he managed to make me feel better and to know that this will resolve itself.

What a little love he is. Not that I needed this situation to see that, but to feel his genuine concern and the big heart he has is worth a million bucks. No doubt I'll get hit with a big fee to retrieve my car, but I'll always remember what my little guy said to me, and I'm proud of the person he is becoming.