I really like this picture.

So yesterday I had to drop off some supplies for a tutoring fair that I'll be tabling tonight. The last time I had been to this place, I got very lost and had to turn around multiple times (please imagine with me a car turning around the same bends over and over, trying to turn on a teeny side street that creeps up on you so fast that you can't ever seem to make the turn), so yesterday I called the office of the place and asked, please, for directions. The receptionist gives me directions, then ends with, "Okay. Bye.... be safe." And I was reminded again of the joys of living near the ghetto in sunny Pensacola, Florida.

Once I get there, I grab a pallet of Aquafina, on top of which are a couple packages of juice boxes. Hanging from my arms are my purse and four or so bags of cookies and crackers. I stagger through the dirt parking lot to the double doors, which I barely manage to open, nearly losing the juice boxes in the attempt. Cool air hits my hot face and I hesitate, looking for a sign or any sort of direction. I find none, so I wander up the hall, pausing every now and then to readjust my grip on the Aquafinas. I see a human being with a badge around her neck! I thank God. I ask a question. She asks many questions, which seem to make the stuff heavier. She figures out where I'm trying to go (at least one of us knows) and turns me around towards the double doors I came in. Turning left right before them, we face a long hallway. She points to my destination at the very end of it. I scramble for a grip on the water, juice and cookies and begin to stagger (again). When I almost run into a couple of women with a large cart, one offers the cart as an Aquafina carrier. I gratefully accept. The subsequent trips up and (after more refined directions) back down the hallway seem much shorter and finally, after interrupting a training session, I deposit my goodies and run away.

Victory, even celebrated in a dirt parking lot, is indeed sweet.