“Oh no” moments come to us all, I think, or at least they come to me. They’re the times when something happens that’s anything but what you wished would happen. It’s a moment when things could have gone better but alas did not and you’re left with nothing but “Oh no.”
Here’re a few:
--It’s the weekend. Ah, finally, relax, read, sports, do nothing. But the furnace won’t kick on, the house is turning into an icebox, and it’s the weekend. Remember? Oh yes. Oh no.
--You make a special trip into the store, what store? It doesn’t matter, the store. And you want a certain item. What item? Doesn’t matter, an item. Finally, you’re there, but the item’s not there. Oh no.
--Big week planned, trip maybe, cool goings on. Wake up ready to go. Nope, wake up with a sore throat feeling like you’re coming down with a cold, achy. Oh no.
--You’re speaking, have worked on a great PowerPoint, all set up, ready for show. But the local projector won’t work and the local projector operator doesn’t know how to fix it, nor do you. Oh no.
--You’re running late, jump into your rental car, and drive a few miles when the distinctive odor of smoke hits you. You don’t have time to return your smoke-tainted “No Smoking” car, so you drive it for the next few days and you’re clothes soon smell like a smokestack. Oh no.
--You arrive at church ready to focus on worship, look down, and spot a spot on your shirt that in the light of day you can’t imagine how you missed dressing in the half-dark earlier. Oh no.
--You get to the airport 20 minutes from home and an hour before your flight, only to discover you’ve forgotten your sport coat, or worse, your passport. Oh no.
--You walk out of the airport late at night after a long flight and all you want is to get to the port hotel the sooner the better for the night’s layover. As you cross the street to the shuttle stop the bus you need to catch drives by. In it’s 30+ minute loop you missed its airport stop by seconds. Oh no.
--You can’t wait to finally get a chance to relax and eat. You stopped on the way to the hotel for your fav sandwich meal, get to the hotel and check in, settle into your room, and now it’s finally time to enjoy. You bite into your sandwich, your fav remember, only to discover the bread’s hard, an ingredient’s missing, or for some reason it all “tastes funny.” Oh no.
--You get in this road lane, or Customs or store line, rather than that lane/line because this lane/line is moving faster. Only when you get in this lane/line that lane/line starts moving faster. You see your chance and move to the other lane/line out of your lane/line so now you’re in a better position in a new lane/line. But the vehicles ahead slow to a stop or the Customs agent in this line suddenly decides to talk chattily with each traveler or the store clerk determines now is when he needs to rush off somewhere else. You are stuck forever in your lane/line. Oh no.
© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2011
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