A banner day

This morning (and yesterday morning) I woke up with pain in my lower back. I counted myself lucky that I could even stand up today. Yesterday I spent the day partially hunched over, practicing for when I'm old and need a walker. I even called the chiropractor and left a pathetic message about not being able to bend at the waist. He called me back first thing this morning. I get paranoid about calling in sick so I was at work - moving slowly but still moving. He said he could fit me in at 9 a.m. and I rushed right over.

Twenty minutes later I could barely stand at the reception desk to pay the bill. The chiropractor told me to ice my back for a few minutes every hour and said it would feel better tonight. I debated going back to work to pick up my laptop and take it home but I was in so much pain I didn't want to wait that long to get the ice going. I also thought about my firm, supportive office chair and the saggy couch I had waiting for me at home. No question, I was going to spend the day at work.

So I came home and got my giant flexible cold pack, strapped it around my waist and made my way back to the office. I got there at 9:55, just in time to log into the customer service lines. It turns out 2 of the 3 customer service reps were out sick and their supervisor had a meeting at 10. I normally hate filling in like that but I'd rather be known as a team player than the girl who left work whining about a backache.

An hour later the meeting was over and I got pulled in for a quick chat with my manager. Surprise! I'm getting a raise. We all got a corporate email last month that said (in corporate speak) to not expect a raise this year and to be grateful we weren't getting paycuts like our parent company. To hear that I was getting something after all was really great. It took my mind off the pain for a moment and made me glad again that I decided to tough it out.

My day was filled with other little good bits. The 2nd floor hottie was in the cubicle next door for at least half an hour. It was my cube neighbor's birthday and he came up for cake - twice! The first time I managed to briefly join their conversation. The second time I was out of reasons to pop in so I just walked past and smiled. He smiled back. Yea!

In the middle of the day I took a bathroom break and I finally understood the reason for all my good karma. Somehow in my pain-fogged morning I had managed to perfectly match my shirt to my underpants. Fuschia V-neck, meet fuschia granny panties. If you pull the shirt down far enough it looks like an 80's style Olympics leotard. Awesome.