Do Over

Roberta, the news room secretary went a little nuts today after dealing with a particularly rude caller.

It takes a lot to affect Roberta like that. She's whacky and tough at the same time. I've seen her hand out candy one minute and lecture someone the next. She says "ma'am" in that Louisiana accent she picked up from living in New Orleans when she's tearing down rude customers who think they can talk down to the "receptionist."

But this particular caller today. Whoo-eee. After she hung up, Roberta looked at me and Marci the intern and said, "I have to go for a walk or else the next person who looks at me I'll tear their head off. I've never, never had a caller affect me that way."

Then she headed for the door but not before letting an aggravated, "Aaaaarrrrrggghhhh!" echo through the office.

About 15 minutes later, she was back with that familiar grin -- jovial and dangerous at the same time. "I'm calling a do-over!" she declared. "I'm going to pretend that never happened and get back to work."

Amen.

That's exactly how I feel now. All the negativity I've been harboring lately, all the whinyness and feeling sorry for myself, I want a do over.

Do over!

I love that. The idea of a do over. It's so great.