A Series of Mostly Fortunate Events

(My new living room -- the exotic couch pillows and cattails on the endtable are compliments of Marjorie)

When I was a child, I loved a book about a little girl who had all kinds of adventures. The story went something like this: "Fortunately, Elizabeth got to visit her uncle's farm in the countryside and jump from the barn loft into heaps of hay. Unfortunately, there was a pitchfork in the heap of hay. Fortunately, she barely missed landing on the pitchfork. Unfortunately, she also missed the pile of hay. Fortunately . . . " You get the gist.

The past couple weeks of my life have followed a similar motif.

Fortunately, my dear friend, Cherice, bequeathed me with her lovely apartment when she moved to Utah.

Unfortunately, this means Cherice no longer lives in Michigan.

Fortunately, other kind people stepped in to help me pack and move -- including Marjorie and Ramona who packed up most of my apartment and some of the busiest men from church who kindly volunteered their Saturday morning and brute strength to move my belongings.

Unfortunately, on Saturday afternoon I learned that the woman who had been planning to move into my old apartment (and thus prevent me from having to pay double-rent for September until my lease expired) would not be able to move in after all due to circumstances out of her control.

Fortunately, just as I was about to shrivel up from exhaustion, the sister missionaries called and offered to help me clean the old apartment.

Unfortunately, I now had two apartments: one that was vacant and one that was equally uninhabitable due to mountains of boxes.

Fortunately, Nan and Janice showed up at my doorstep at just the right moments to help me unpack.

Unfortunately, my new apartment -- although spacious, sunshiny, and clean -- was rather boring and austere.

Fortunately, Marjorie helped me hang my pictures and plates and provided a trunk full of home decor items to "punch up" my apartment.

Unfortunately, my super comfortable "punched-up" apartment did not come equipped with a pre-written dissertation.

Fortunately, I have close to a year to write the silly book.

Unfortunately, my laptop was nigh unto death and I could only see the screen if I was in a dark room.

Fortunately, Best Buy had laptops on sale for a very good price.

Unfortunately, my bank account took a third major hit when I received a terse notice informing me that I had failed to pay city taxes in 2005. Ouch! (It was an accident, truly!)

Fortunately, I happen to enjoy rice and beans and consumed them for three days straight, thus saving oodles of money that might otherwise have been spent on groceries.

So you see, all's well that ends well!