We all have them.  Days where everything seems to go wrong.  Today was one for me, and it started early.  Urged by my clock and the dogs, I finally dragged myself from bed around 8:15am, feeling like the Tin Man without his oil can.  That’s nothing unusual, of course.

Then I begin the process of letting our two dogs out.  Both are lab mixes.  Sam weighs in at 60 pounds, and Cooper is close to 75.  I leave them inside, and step onto the lanai.  I open and shut the door a few times, then whistle, all while checking for movement in between the fence slats.  If all is quiet, the dogs join me on the lanai, and Sam speaks. If all is still quiet, they finally head into the yard.

Why this extended ritual?  Well, next door, there is a tiny little terrier mix named Lily.  She probably weighs less than 10 pounds, but she loves to whip Sam and Cooper into a frenzy.  She rushes to the fence and barks at them, and they dig under the fence, howling and barking intensely.  (Aside: they are such sweet dogs, and the only time we see them behave this way is with this instigator dog.  It’s weird.) Worse yet, our neighbors do not seem to care about the damage this causes, to us or potentially to her.  I have spoken to them twice, but nothing has changed.  Even for Lora, it’s a big challenge to drag 135 pounds of dog back into the house.  For me, it’s next to impossible.

This morning, it happened.  The dogs were finishing their morning business and about to come in when Lily appeared out of nowhere.  I screamed in horror, as I was still in full “tin woman” mode, and tried to get them inside one by one.  I finally did, but not without suffering lots of pain and two near-falls.

When I got to my 9:45am doctor appointment, most of the parking lot was under construction.  I finally found a spot far, far away from the entrance, and had to limp my way slowly there.  Thank goodness for my snazzy rollator! By the time I got there, I was 10 minutes late and drenched in sweat.  Oh, how I love August in Tampa! 😉

Later, I got home to find that we had received the replacement Liverpool soccer jersey we had ordered for Bear.  The original was sent in a medium, when I ordered a large.  I opened it excitedly, and found that it was…..another medium.

These things happen, of course.  Conventional wisdom says it’s just a “Murphy’s Law” day.  But for those of us with chronic illnesses, everyday life requires monumental effort already – no twists or turns are needed.  It seems downright evil to turn all the routine stuff upside down for a day, when everyday life is upside down already.  Therefore, I decided “Murphy” must have an evil twin, “Malfoy”, who haunts us.  Full disclosure: we also have a Roomba who we have named “Murphy”. He is awesome, and I cannot associate him with a day like today, so I knew it must’ve been someone else. 🙂

So, “Malfoy’s Law” is what got me today.  I wonder if I can find a wand at Ollivander’s in Orlando that will help me break the spell next time.