April 4, 2026

Friday. I started work really early, hours early, because I had to make my bank appointment in the afternoon.  It turned into one of those days where every call came with long hold times, every form attempted to complete online required research for every question. I practiced a lot of calming breathing techniques. I had to get my job done so I could get to the bank.  And this time the bank appointment was going to work or I didn’t know what I was going to do. 

I made it to the bank by 3.

I chose this bank because over the years we’d opened several accounts there.  At this meeting I found out that somewhere along the line someone had missed hitting the space bar. Names had become one long mysterious word with a typo at the end. For each one found, there was a fresh round of waiting for printouts, signing forms, and moving on to the next one with some other piece of old or wrong information that needed correcting. I caught myself laughing at a certain point. Not because it was funny exactly, but because of course nothing was going to be easy today.

The banker was wonderfully patient through all of it. Completely professional. Until I mentioned gardening as a way to deal with stress. It turns out we are both attempting to grow things in the high desert, where plants get blown out of pots, frozen overnight, or dried out while you’re on vacation. We had a lot to say about that.

By 5:15 I had an open business account, an appreciation for patient bankers, and a desperate need for a good meal. It was a major milestone.  So I picked up a bottle of wine on the way home.