The Best Thing to Happen All Week

I know, of course,that it's only Tuesday, but this has already been a craptacular week. Let me count the ways:

I'm coming off yet another bout with "the office cold," a particularly tenacious mutant that necessitated time off from work, lengthened an already long week into a marathon and transformed a three-day weekend into a festival of mucus-gurgling pain.

Monday was Valentine's Day, and even though I took the day off from work to hide under a rock until it went away, the media still found ways to shove my perpetual singleness in my face. Even when I turned on the radio to the one "all-news" station we have left in Chicago, I got smacked with celebrity V-Day greetings wedged right between reports on "real" stories. (Do I really care if Shaq or Carrie Underwood wishes me a Happy Valentine's Day or not? No. I don't. Well, maybe if Carrie were delivering her wishes personally...no. Not even then.)

And, as if V-Day and congested sinuses weren't enough fun and frolic, I got the news yesterday that Mom lost her job. (A long story--and one I might relate at some future date--but not just now.)

So back at work Tuesday, short-handed and irritable, I felt the need to scout around for chocolate. And what did I find? Leftovers from Valentine's Day. Much as I love Hershey's Kisses, they don't taste nearly as sweet when they're wrapped in Pepto-Bismol pink.

I lamented this lack of untainted chocolate to a coworker (and fellow chocoholic), who quite appropriately rolled her eyes at the mention of the V-Day leftovers. After patiently listening to my lament, however, she turned in her desk chair, reached into a bag on the floor of her office, and pulled out this: "Take it," she said. "I'll just eat the whole box." I understood the sentiment--put a box of Samoas in front of me and watch them disappear--but the kindness of the gesture was nonetheless appreciated.

Maybe she saw that I was having a rough day. Maybe she concurred with my lack of warmth toward the 14th day of February. Or maybe she really didn't just want to power through that box of Thin Mints herself. Whatever the case, the cookies are at my desk, being casually nibbled on from time to time and elevating my mood ever so slightly.

Thank you, kind coworker. Thank you ever so.