Payback.

I am still reading The Elegant Universe. It is getting harder and harder to understand. Guess that's what happens when you finish the introduction.

I'm having my own experiences with the Universe. I have decided that, not only is it Elegant, it also has a dang good love of irony.

The definition of "irony" is "a technique of indicating an intention or attitude opposite to that which is actually or ostensibly stated. "

I think that irony, when applied to the Universe as a whole, is beyond that and has more to do with balance in opposites-- yin and yang and all that.

Take for instance the fact that I had a great weekend. I had too much fun, and while I was having fun, my husband and kids scrubbed my entire house. Not only that, but they washed AND folded AND put away ALL of the laundry! Not to mention the fact that, while I was shopping, I found not just one, but TWO pair of awesome jeans-- for less than $20 a piece!

That left me one up on the Universe.

The Universe can't leave a horrific imbalance like that floating around. Too much good Karma might actually cause the earth to spin the wrong way or something. No worries-- there's nothing the Universe does better than even out too much of a good thing.

Wham!

And yesterday morning, I wake up with a heinous cold sore on my top lip. I've never had one before-- it felt like my lip was in that uncomfortable stage of waking up from Novocaine all day long. Not to mention that my lip looked like a Botox treatment done by a 6 year old.

Got to love an affliction that is not only painful, but repulsively humiliating.

However, my weekend was SOO good, that a horrendous blight on my face was not quite enough to even things out.

I didn't want to leave the house. Ever again. However, we had business associates coming in for dinner all the way from Washington. I had no choice.

I tried to cover it up. I wore a HUGE silver necklace to try and draw attention away from my disfigurement. I kept my head down a little bit.

Just when I think I'm doing all right and going to make it through the night, I realize that one of the waiters looks a lot like a guy I used to know.

A guy from Brazil who I only half teased my mom I was going back to Brazil to marry. A guy that I haven't seen in 15 years since I was a hot, tan, 23 year old missionary.

Fan-dam-tastic.

He hugged me and said, "you look great!" I know what he was really thinking-- "What the heck is that monstrosity growing on your face? Man I'm glad I didn't marry you and became a waiter in a foreign country instead!"

Layne got a kick out of the whole thing.

Seriously. What are the chances of running into someone from the other side of the world and the other side of your life on any given night-- let alone on a night when I have the first cold sore of my life?

I hope that the Universe is happy now. I'm pretty sure that balance has been achieved.

On second thought, maybe I'd better just stay in the house for a while.

I think that the Universe might charge interest. . .