If I had a chance for another try, I wouldn't change a thing

I love spring. No, better, I love sunshine, and since spring is the first sign of real warmth and sun, I love spring, but just by default. I'm just so happy when the sun is out. And for any excuse to wear shorts. It's probably a good thing that sun makes me so blasted happy and giddy, because there are a lot of things that happened today that I probably wouldn't be so thrilled about were it not so beautiful outside.

It's just hard to be in a bad mood when there's sun.

Class got out early today, so I had about an hour before I needed to go to work. As I got out of the car with Brid at my apartment, I said, "Can we make a snack?" as she said, "Can we go long boarding?" so she said, "We can do both." I said, "Let's make muddy buddies." We decided we could long board to get the ingredients we were missing and then make them really fast before I went to work. So we're boarding along...

Please note that I am on the sidewalk. Not in the middle of the street.

And I realized my shoes weren't helping me stay on my board really well. I commented to Bridian, "Maybe Toms aren't the best to long board in" and then I ate it.
Brid said it was sweet because I ninja-rolled out of it. I don't really remember much, just not wanting to break anything, and knowing I'd hit kind of hard but not really being sure what happened. I was trying to adjust my footing, and I flipped off the board. Skidded first, then used my ninja skills to keep from further damage? It really wasn't too bad. Just little scuffs.

Bridian was so impressed that I was not only okay but that I looked super hard-core. I was just mad. I'd wrecked my shoes. 

 Grass stains man. I just feel like washing these will ruin them. Really? I've had them for a week.

So we continued on our way. I had to get to work and we had muddy buddies to make. I left my powedered sugar at Jeremy's, and so we got there and found Zack at home. He came in to say hello and saw my leg. And immediately started to rifle through the medicine cabinet to find something to offer me.

I will admit, it looked pretty bad. There was a golf ball-sized lump on it that was startling, besides the streaks of blood and dirt and fun stuff that comes with road rash. Zack couldn't find anything in his cupboard besides facials (really Zack....) and came out with lip balm/gloss. From the boy who was just showing off his facials, I thought nothing of it. He offered me some, sure why not? It actually smelled like not awful lip gloss, something familiar but I can't quite figure it out, and I really thought nothing of the fact that Zack was telling me to lick my lips. He offered some to Brid, who said, "I'm trying to quit." Funny girl.

And then my lips went numb. And I remembered all to quickly why I know the smell.

"Zack, do you know what this is?!" Zack smiled. "It's benzocaine." The medication my mom rubbed on our gums as babies when we were growing teeth or they were ready to come out. I realized I couldn't feel my tongue either. Zack was laughing hysterically. Brid said, "Why don't you kick her while she's down!" And Zack returned, "I thought it was funny when you said 'I'm trying to quit.'" Aren't I supposed to be at work now? "I just wanted to make you stop thinking about your leg!" "Thanks Zack. Now my face is numb and all I can feel is my leg!"

But I was still mostly thinking of my shoes. And then Zack saw them. "WHA?!?" No 't'. "Your leg will heal! You didn't tell me about this!" Zack rapidly proceeded to give a very detailed explanation of how to clean Toms. Wash on cold, gentle, scrub them with an old toothbrush and detergent before washing. Take out the inserts. And I forgot how annoyed I am that I can't feel my lips and am grateful Zack ruined a pair of Toms to give me this information now.

Zack offered us a ride home, Brid made some comment about getting back on the horse and Zack retorted, "I had a friend that got back on his horse. And he broke his back."

"Goodbye, Zack! Thank you!"

We made it back in one piece, carefully passing 7th East and 5th North without a repeated incident, saw Patty and yelled a cheerful hello, and still had time to run to the store to get chocolate chips. And hydrogen peroxide and cotton balls. But we got to the checkout and I could not, for the life of me, remember my pin. So I tried to run my card as credit instead of debit, but I managed to lock myself out of the system. And all I brought with me was this one card. The sweet, friendly helper lady tells me that she just had to help someone call their bank so they could remove the hold on the card and let me complete my purchase and give me my pin. So I called my other sweet friend at Bank of America and she tells me it takes 3 days to get a new pin. At this point, positive I'm going to be late for work, I suddenly remembered that I did, in fact, leave my wallet in my car. Bridian to the rescue. By the time I've finished working with my bank lady and getting my new pin for my card Brid came back with my wallet and we completed our purchase. It was still sunny outside, and while I had exactly 5 minutes to get to work and couldn't believe my luck, or apparent lack thereof, I couldn't be mad. Especially when President Pan walked by and I yelled out the window, "Hey Jace!" and Bridian said, "You seriously know everyone."

I scrambled into work with a bottle of hydrogen peroxide in my hand, and my boss just looked at me with a perfectly intuitive look of "what trouble has this kid gotten herself into this time" and saw my leg as I announced that I've wrecked. He laughed, "Oh Alyssa. How old are you?" "Five. I'm five." He continued laughing.

So I'm sitting at work, trying not to scream every time I tap my leg with this chemical that's supposed to clean out all chance of infection, wondering how on earth I'm still alive. No, not alive. I don't do enough serious damage to have put my life in danger. But I do wonder how I am not one giant scab who is a mental, unstable nut job because of the random chain of events that constantly define my life.

To top it off, my boss from Florida just called. The president of this company for which I've been doing lots of organizational work. He says, "Alyssa. I quit."

My tongue is still numb. And the sun is still happily shining.

Yeah. I definitely love spring.



[Title from Rites of Spring (Edited)- Angels and Airwaves]