her sudden irriation sat me back in my chair ...

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A friend began a conversation online by asking me what I see in years ahead.

Wanting to be positive, and not having any trouble doing so, as usual, I went with my first thought.

I wrote "Excitement !!!"

A very easy answer for me because I cannot imagine how anyone can make it through a day with all the challenges we face and actually stay "calm"

Everyone wants me to be "more positive" it seems, not quite comprehending how insanely *positive* I am already.

I do try.

Over the next half hour we talked of many things, I explained a complex process she had not thought of, and we mostly agreed on a variety of subjects.

I admitted that I had forgotten it was she who had sent me a certain article which I found extremely informative - too many things coming in here to remember where they all come from

What surprised me after all the things we shared was her sudden irritation.

Yes, I CAN "hear" that right through the little black and white characters feeding into my screen.

"How can you be excited about misery and people dying?" she demanded of me.

I said to myself, "HUH?" and sat back, staring at my screen.

"I cannot think of anything I said that might make you think that I would EVER be excited about people dying," I wrote back.

"Go back and read the first thing you said in this conversation," she said.

Uh ... "That is not what I meant," I said ...
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