With $2.50 in my pocket, I stopped by 7-11 for a cup of hot cocoa. As I held the cup under the dispenser and pressed the button, I started thinking about what�s being going on lately.

I just got a healthy amount in an overage check from my mortgage company because they screwed up my escrow. I�ll soon receive another substantial and unexpected amount as a signing bonus for the job I started 2.5 years ago. Filing my taxes will net me another few grand. My job is now giving me 34 paid days off per year and mondo health benefits. I�ve got a good amount in savings, just waiting to buy another house for investment purposes. I got out of waiting nine months for a new session of Catholic conversion classes just by knowing a little bit through my recent reading and will be fully confirmed this Easter. I�ve gotten some crazy reminders lately that I have some amazing and wonderful people are friends.

Etc., etc., etc.

So I�ve got all this good stuff going on. Karmic properties tell me there�s a taxi�s front bumper waiting for me as I cross the street with my head in the clouds.

All around 7-11�s cocoa machine are signs saying �Hold the button until your cup is 2/3 full, or it will overflow!� but I�m here thinking about all the crazy-good stuff that�s come about in the past few days, completely ignoring the warnings.

And then I realize something: Maybe this is like my mortgage company�s screw-up. I�ve been shit upon excessively through no fault of my own for the past two months.

And I'm still filling up my cocoa, zoned out and thinking about it.

This poop-chute of a man has his own short comings, couldn�t hang with what I�ve got, and wimped out on me.

Again, I�m fully forgetting about the "fill only to 2/3rds" thing.

Beyond offering a loving and supportive environment where he can feel safe with me, I can�t do anything about his problems.

And then I think, �Oh crap, oh crap, overflow coming!� and I release the button well over the 2/3 mark, dangerously close to the top.

But somehow it stops perfectly, and I laugh: This is my karmic pay-back, and I�ve gotta appreciate it for what it is and let it happen.

So I bought a lotto ticket with the extra dollar and went home with my foreboding feeling gone.�