Tic-Toc, Tic-Toc, Tic-Toc......tictictoctoctictictoctoctoctictictictictictictoctoctoc.....

 MY CLOCK.....ON STEROIDS!!!
Take me back to simpler times.....

MEET ME UNDER THE CLOCK!!!!

The iconic Kauffman's Clock......a staple of life in Pittsburgh before there were cell phones and emails and texting and skyping and personal  schedules that resemble government documents

The days and the hours are passing by with lightening speed. 
And, within each one of those days and hours, there's things to do, places to be, people to see.
Times 250....
Yes, I've been missing from Stories from the Road for a few days....living a life that's going 100 miles a minute and filled with more demands and obligations and commitments than I can even begin to explain here. 
The fervor has been so insane that I don't recall when I ate my last real meal.   
Yet, even with all the doing, doing, doing and going, going, going.....I'm still unable to make everyone happy, do everything that needs done and keep up with even the most minimal of my own needs....
Although this time of  the year is typically overwhelming in my work life and busy enough with just the normal business of my personal life, the add-ons that have found their way into my world have  pushed my life over the edge....

I am pretty sure my husband is at the point where he is going to either shoot me or chop off my head.... (at this point, either would be fine....whichever is less messy because I'm not sure who would clean up the mess if I'm unavailable.)

As I rode a bus into the town (which is something I do not do all that often...) yesterday morning in the very, very early morning hours,  I contemplated this whopping insanity that has become my life this past week.  In that rare moment....with nothing to do but gaze at the other passengers and  think about how the hell I was going to get some balance, I spied a piece of Pittsburgh heritage that has come to symbolize friendship and love and happy moments for many generations of Pittsburghers.  Fortunately, I am one of those Pittsburghers of bygone days that the Kaufmann's Clock means so much....special trips to town--with my mother, school shopping in town--with my mother,meeting my dad after work under that clock--with my mother,  meeting my aunts under that clock soon after my mother passed away, meeting girlfriends from other towns under that clock, meeting friends and cousins for movies under that clock, meeting  college roommates during breaks under that clock,  meeting old college friends for happy hour when we all started our careers....under that clock.  
The happy smiles and warm embraces, the lingering moments, the anticipation, the laughter....under that clock. 
A peaceful joy came over me......something I haven't felt in a very long time. 
I felt a peaceful joy engulf me.  I decided I should take the bus more often.....