Wake Up!

For those of you following the saga, I did not win the Mega Millions last night. So, I am back to the grind.

Last night I had two dates for Valentine's day. Unfortunately, neither one of them were my honey. Another branch manager was in the Chicago area doing an audit, so we decided since we're less than an hour apart, we'd hook up for dinner. He was nice enough to accept the driving, so he met us here.

That was a nice diversion from the norm, and nice to be able to look at a new face across the dinner table. We all exchanged war stories about being on the job, some high points and some low points. It was good to hear that other people have some of the same stories in other cities. Makes me feel not as lonely.

We just sat talking until the restaurant finally gave us the hint that they'd like to close. It was after 10:30 p.m. local time by the time we got back to the hotel. Now I'm keyed up and had a hard time winding down. I called and talked to Ron for awhile, and thought I should try to get to bed. My eyes were wide open though. I tried a hot shower, then curled up in the chair and read the newspaper from that morning. Before I knew it, it was midnight and I was still up. Hate it when that happens.

I probably fell asleep somewhere around 12:30 a.m. I could have been ok going to my 6:00 a.m. wake up call. (We leave before 7:00 a.m.) However, the fire alarm started blaring at 5:00 a.m.! Let me tell you, that is one of the rudest sounds I have ever heard! I never jumped out of bed so fast like I did this morning. I know what they teach you in school. The fire alarm goes off, you calmly exit the building. However, they never practice this when you're naked and half asleep. I stood there wondering if I was about to die in a fire.

What do you do? Grab the covers off of the bed to wrap around me and run? Put on yesterday's clothes? Put on clean clothes? Do I grab my laptop? My wallet? My glasses? WHAT?!? I stood there and a minute later, the alarm stopped. No announcement that we should run or go back to bed. My room happened to be over the front door of the hotel, and from our first check in, I know that's where the fire trucks park when called. So, I looked out the window to see if there was any activity out there. Nothing. I decided to try to go back to bed. Unfortunately, my heart still felt like it wanted to jump out of my chest. I just said the heck with it and got up and put the coffee on.

It's gonna be a long day. I need a nap!