NOT QUITE THE RIGHT TIME

Somehow I am extra tired tonight, and I in a fit of community-mindedness volunteered to direct traffic at 8 a.m. tomorrow morning, so I really should simply go to bed but I need to share this first:

My second-child/youngest daughter/second-oldest daughter/next-to-last born/middle child (isn't it fun how many it can be put?) has suddenly been called to work for extremely long shifts (for her, that means more than an hour and a half). She is extra weary (wow, that sounds familiar, doesn't it), and this evening was very very thankful to get home to her little apartment and just stare at the television while she put waited for her uniform to wash in the complex's laundry room.

But she called me around 9:00 p.m. this evening, almost completely hysterical.

Thankfully, I have known this young woman all of her life, and am familiar with her common and recurring habit of blowing situations out of proportion.

So I got her to take some deep breaths, calm down some, and tell me what the problem was.

And this was it:

Someone had removed her laundry from the washer (obviously because it was not removed quickly enough for them), left it on the counter, and (this is the kicker) STOLEN HER SOCKS.

It took another four minutes or so to discover that no, those weren't her only socks, that no, nothing else was missing, and she was able to dry her uniform and have everything ready for work tomorrow.

And it didn't help that when she blurted out "STOLE MY SOCKS," I collapsed into helpless laughter.

I need to learn to control my emotions better - because this kid is never going to be able to.