Cheerful Spring

Today I am tired. I am sure it was all the extra activity between Palm Sunday and the student dinner (clean up kept on even after I left at 9:30 pm). And I am touchy grumpy. Every little thing irritates me. This is the real me, the one I constantly think has gone away never to return. I am sure that I will bite the head off the first person I see.

I open on Mondays, and today I arrive at 7:30 am, grab the paper from the mailbox outside, fussing about the deep ditch and the mud I have to climb over to retrieve it. Mental note: have Grounds take a look at that and do something about it.

I flop the paper down at the Circ Desk and am disgusted at how cluttered the area is. I toss liberally - empty cups and water bottles, abandoned klediments that should be placed in lost and found, papers, scraps, glue sticks, staple removers all out of their normal places. Mental note: have the morning student clean this mess up.

I climb the steps to the second floor to turn on display cases and lights. Books are strewn about, the copier room crammed with papers and garbage, the glass table tops in the group study rooms are a mess, the bulletin boards cluttered with outdated fliers. Mental note: assign a student to remove all the fliers.

Grump, grump, grump, grouse, grouse grouse. I have repeatedly requested the Sunday closers to look around and police the area before they leave. I hate starting a fresh new week with leftover crud from a long weekend. I know if I see any staff right now I will likely lower the boom. I am in a dangerous place.

And then I see it. The bouquet of spring flowers from last night's banquet. So cheerful. So innocent. So fresh and clean. I drink in their beauty, caress their colors with my eyes, feed my soul. And relax. These little irritations are easily addressed. Nothing worth getting all het up over.

I bend down and smell the fragrant spring display of wonder and recall all the wonderful events punctuated with such flowers as these. Good memories. Great days. I am adjusted now. My spirit relaxes and breathes. I am happy again.

Perhaps this is a role I should emulate. Just being a breath of fresh air in a stale world so that others can remember to relax. Well, on to other things.