That deflated feeling

The first thing I noticed after I drove up the driveway yesterday afternoon was a distinctive hissing sound as of air rapidly leaving a tire, which indeed it turned out to be. I had spent four relaxing days gallivanting around the state without one squeak of complaint from my rusty Volvo, but then I hit a bit of exposed tree branch on my way up the driveway and destroyed a tire. Welcome home!

I felt similarly deflated later when I spent some time scrolling through the 72 e-mails that had piled up in my absence. The sun is shining, the snow is melting, the daffodils are emerging from their winter sleep--must I deal with this big annoying mess?

The answer is yes. Today I'm back in the office working my way through the pile one message at a time and punctuating my progress with steady sips from two barium sulfate smoothies. Yes: it's CAT-scan day! I'm happy to have a pile of messages to distract me from the taste and texture of these wretched smoothies, which are certain to deflate my sense of spring euphoria. I have a new (used) tire on my car and I'm reducing the inbox backlog, so after the CAT-scan I may take a walk in the woods if the rain holds off. Perhaps spring will pump the air back in my deflated spirits.