I discovered in the wee hours of the morning that the pain becomes manageable if I curl up in a tight ball, hugging my knees, and remain upright. So I rearranged the pillows on my bed so that I could sorta sit and lean sideways and finally get some rest. I woke up with a start with the morning light streaming in through the windows, and my alarm clock, which had not gone off, was flashing 2:40. I’d lost power to the house 2 hours and 40 minutes ago. What the hell time was it? It was a bit past 8:30a. I called my supervisor and left a brief voice mail explaining my tardiness but saying I’m on my way, and clamored to the restroom and brushed my teeth, washed my face, decided to skip the makeup and instead bring my face to work with me in a makeup bag. I figured I’d make an appointment with Kaiser when I got to work.

When I got to my desk, I saw a flat little jewelry envelope sitting unobtrusively between my stapler and hole puncher. Inside is a metallic cookie-cutter type angel ornament that appears to be hand-painted. Definitely more sentimental than impersonally mass-produced. My staff knows nothing of it. I called a couple of coworkers who have left things anonymously on my desk before, and none of them seemed to know what I’m talking about. Who has access to a secure courtroom early in the morning, who would think to do this? I thought it was someone who reads my blog and therefore knows what I’m currently experiencing, and wants to leave a little token of support to tell me that I’ll be fine and that an angel is watching over me.

There is a small metal angel clipped to the upper left edge of my rear-view mirror, which I got after my first and only car accident. A circle around the angel reads, “An angel to watch over you.” I now have a courtroom angel which I will pin up on my desk bulletin. So to whomever left it, if you are a blog reader of mine, thank you for the reminder that things will work out. They do always work out.

I am going to juggle between my courtroom and a specialized courtroom down the hall today. They are very short on clerks again. My appointment is at 6:40pm a couple of miles from work, which will work out nicely because I’m gonna stay after work for the retirement party at a nearby hotel anyway. That way I’ll just leave at 6:20 or so to go to the appointment.