I got
lucky; Taylor, who has a boat 3 or 4 slips down lent me his line. Mike,
another neighbor, helped me string phone wire down the dock so I've had
partial communications, until this morning when Taylor's line died too.
Naturally,
I'm in the middle of a big project for my part time grant writing job
for the San Diego Repertory Theatre. My job share partner and I had
grown to count on email as well as phone as we both work from our
respective homes. But she's on land and when something goes wrong with
the phone line, the phone company fixes it.
Lemons arrive
This morning, Taylor's line went out about 7:30. I was, of course, 30 or
40 minutes from emailing the final draft of the project.
The goat
dance began. I rushed through a shower, transferred 6 files to disk and
drove to the office at the REP where I hoped to find Barbara to fill in
the last few numbers and email the whole mess to my job partner from
there. Barb wasn't in yet, so I barrowed Jenna's computer and set about
emailing; all went well except for one file--I have no idea how it got
corrupted, but it did. Barb came in and answered my questions.
Lemons turn to lemonade
But
the magic began when I told her my phone tale of woe. She looked me in
the eye and said, "I'm so sorry!"
I felt tears welling and
realized she was the first person I'd spoken to about the problem that
expressed real understanding and sympathy. Oh, most people had been ok
with it, but had also found it very strange and were full of unhelpful
suggestions, like 'call the phone company.' Barbara really heard both
what I was saying and how I was feeling.
Now
the drill at the REP is we don't get paid parking, so we buy a cup of
coffee at Starbucks and get our parking validated. I guess I still
looked pressured because the clerk asked me how I was doing. I said
'it's been a hell of a morning!" He asked if that was good or bad,
and when I responded with "I just want it to stop," he grimaced
and gave me a discount on my coffee. Another person heard the whole
truth of what I was saying.
Truly hearing what someone has to say is an art
and a discipline--I know how to do it; I've now been reminded just how
important it is and am determined to do it more often.
The folks who fix the phones are on the docks
right now, so late today or, worst case, tomorrow, my phone line will be
working again. And to tell the truth, in some ways it's been delightful
to not have to answer the phone or email for a few days.
Love, peace and
abundance,
