Simple Joys

Thomas had his whole day planned out, as usual. He would wake up, freshen up, read the newspaper, have a cup of coffee and go to work. It was his daily routine. Nothing special. But he knew this particular day would be interesting when his coffee maker stopped working in the morning. He stood there for a solid minute, staring at the coffee machine as if it had insulted him. Wow. It was as if the coffee maker had decided it was enough; it too did not want any part in Thomas's boring days anymore. Thomas sighed. It wasn't his fault that he was a workaholic. His work demands such effort and he had been so immersed in his flow of work that he never realized the toll it took on his personal health and life. Forget it, he thought, I don't have time to contemplate the meaning of life today. Thomas has a meeting scheduled in the morning with his board of directors and he did NOT want to be late. So, he rushed out; only to realize after a few steps that he had forgotten his car keys inside. He retrieved it and then rushed out. If he hadn't been anxious in the house, he was currently in full panic mode because not only had he been stuck in traffic for 20 minutes but now he also has a flat tyre. In the middle of the highway. He was ready to scream profanities a

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s to why? Why today of all days?

He was so stressed that he was about to lose it when, thankfully, a tow truck driver noticed him and kindly offered to drop his at his workplace and told him that he would have the car fixed and delivered there. As soon as he entered his workplace, Thomas was already thinking of an apologetic speech and was about to blame it ALL on the coffee machine and some bad karma when he noticed something was off. He had reached his floor in the multi-storied structure and it was pitch black. He could barely think, what is going on? Before the lights switched on and everyone came out yelling. It took Thomas a while to realise what in the name of Mike was going on?! Suddenly it clicked as a small smile crept onto his face which turned into a chuckle when his co-workers brought out the cake and started screaming HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! The song was awfully off tune but it didn't matter. In this journey of life, sometimes you have to stop to smell the roses. That's what makes it worthwhile. Thomas promised himself something at that moment. He would allow himself to slow down and cherish the simple joys that life has to offer. Maybe that coffee machine wasn't so evil after all.