I was in such a good mood this morning...

...then i went and jacked it all up with my BIG mouth.

This morning was great. Next week I start my new job. Same office, same everything, different position. So I've been going to bed anxious and waking up every morning eager to get to work. So I'm humming to myself as I walk across the lobby. I'm just looking for someone to say good morning to...that's just the kind of mood i'm in today. "Good morning!" I shout at the parking and transportation worker guy. "Oh, hello...good morning," he whispered back. Then I rounded the corner and found myself standing next to this kid waiting for the elevator. (Yes, I'm back on elevators again... I find them easier to deal with when you have to go up and down the stairs 8 times a day.) Anyway, so I'm waiting next to this kid in silence. We don't make eye contact. He's a really tall slender African American male, probably a sophomore in college. He definitely looks wider awake than I do. We could have stood their in silence going up to the 3rd floor. But I couldn't let that happen, noooo, it's me... of course not.

We get in the elevator and he pushes "3." That's my floor, yay I don't have wait for him to get out on two - I thought.

"So, are you going up to Ms. Debra's office?" I ask him. (Ms. Debra is in the office across from mine. She has a slew of student assistants... they're always changing and I can never keep up with who is who.)

"No, actually I'm going up to Mrs. Cathy's office at the end of the hall."

"Oh, what does she do again?" (we have the most random offices working on the same floor. Health Services, Auditing, Financial Services, Orientation...)

"She works with Internal Audits."

"Oh, so what do you do for her?"

"Whatever she needs me to do," he says as the elevator dings.

"Oh, well then. Welcome to the third floor. It's a great place to work," I smiled.

"Oh, I've been working here since last semester."

"You have? I wonder why we've never met?" I said puzzled.

"I walk by your office every morning." he said with his back to me ask he walked down the hall.

"Oh, uh... yeah, I hate mornings..." I blurted as I keyed open my door. What am I saying?

Does anybody have anything I could use to wedge this giant foot out of my mouth?

P.S. I love mornings. I've always loved mornings. What if I see him again one day and tell him that I LOVE mornings? which I do. I loooove mornings. Then he'll know that I lied.