I think about perspective a lot.

Sometimes I write about it as if puzzling it through by remembering the order of a bunch of letters will help me come to a stronger conclusion.

I desperately want to figure it all out.

It’s the key.

Having a good perspective on things is going to get me through this world.

We just finished what is called a “mail count” at work. A mail count is where we (and you probably guessed what is going on before I tell you) count all the mail…every letter and flat (magazine/catalog), every move we make, every package…and then the results are applied to something called the MATRIX and the folks who know assign a number and a letter to the route that determines how much we are paid…and more importantly to me, at least…how many days a week we have to work.

We finished our count and the results said that I was now an “H”.

That meant that instead of getting a day off every other week, that I was back to working 6 days a week.

Gaaaaaaawwwwwwwwfuuuuushhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh……

I was HOT. It got warm in the office when I heard that news.

It was bad news.

So….it was a test of my perspective.

When I got home….it was like it should be. My little boy was happy to see me and wanted to show me his latest Lego creation.

My family greeted me warmly.

But in my head, the news I’d gotten was taking center stage.

What was wrong with me? Things at home were still great. But this news was too bad to ignore.

I was an “H”. How could this have happened to me? I was an H .

Do you know how it feels to be an “H”? Do you know how hard that is to suddenly be an “H”?

Do you know how sad it makes me that being assigned a letter for my contribution to the working part of my life is something that’s even on my radar?

So my perspective failed me. I was upset.

I have a great and loving family and I was upset about this “work news”.

What do the French say? I think it’s something like, “Le Pissed Offe”.

About the time I’d pulled it back to the “simmering volcano” level, my Postmaster called and told me some good news…

I was a “J” again.

I hadn’t gained anything because of the count…but I hadn’t lost anything either. I still had one day off every two weeks!

It seems that I should have been given credit for the extra work I was doing that before was being considered a freebie…so when they factored the real number for my contribution, the results were more favorable.

They’d determined that I should be given credit for the work I was doing!

And….Baddabingbam…I was a “J” again!

Imagine what that did for my perspective. My universe aligned and all was cool…just because the stupid letters were more to my favor.

Now, I could be depressed if I start thinking about this whole MATRIX thing and the letters and the rigidity of the Postal System.

I could be depressed if I started thinking about the Matrix… there’s something dark at work there, I think.

I’ve seen the movies…I know there are strange things behind the curtain.

But I’ll take what I can get if a letter means that I can get away from it every other week for a day.

At least that’s my perspective.

I’ll take what I can get.

And besides…there’s a Lego castle that I need to pay closer attention to all the time…..