These last couple of days whipped me between wild extremes.
Sunday morning, I couldn’t find my keys. I tore up the apartment — something I try to prevent by trying to always hang my keys near the door — and got increasingly frustrated and concerned … until I realized my husband had taken them by accident.
Later that day, I got a message from AirBnB that my host in Austin for South by Southwest Interactive had canceled my booking. Hotels for the March event sold out last summer, and when I booked this apartment in the fall, I’d spent hours finding something reasonably priced with a decent location. I wondered if I’d have to cancel my trip … but within 24 hours, the fabulous friend I’m bunking with scored us a better apartment than the one we lost.
Sunday night, I worked out my finances for my consulting business and got frustrated that my expenses ate such a big chunk of my end-of-year income … but I also had one client recently commit to new work, had a good meeting with a prospect and organized an inspiring group of women to help each other get referrals. Business feels good in 2013.

Monday morning, I couldn’t find my wallet. After the key fiasco, I wasn’t eager to toss the apartment, but I looked in every logical and illogical place. Nothing. I froze my credit cards, and was relieved when the bank told me no strange charges had been attempted.
I’d only used my wallet one place Sunday, so I called Caputo’s, an excellent Italian shop with the best fresh mozzarella I’ve ever had. But they’re closed on Mondays, so I waited.
I didn’t think it would do me any good to go to Caputo’s in person, since they were closed and it’s a long-ish walk from our apartment. But if I had, I would have seen that the owner, Frank, put up a sign  announcing a woman’s wallet had been found.
He’d also tried to call me, but since we don’t have a land line, he didn’t find me in the phone book.
It was this wallet incident that sent me over the moon.
I could focus on the frustration of absent mindedly leaving my wallet on the counter of a busy store and being worried and without it for a day — or take it as a lovely reminder of the good people in our neighborhood.
So instead of focusing on losing my keys, losing my wallet, losing my SXSW apartment, I’m filled with gratitude that a few days later, I’m actually in a better spot than I was before.
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