My lips have been chapped for a couple of days, and I’ve been feeling too busy to do anything about it. I tried tiny fingertip doses of cocoa butter and moisturizing cream, but nope, nothing but lip balm will do at times like these. Searched my purse. No Chapstick (sometimes I get lucky). Then I searched the bathroom shelf where cosmetics and do-dahs are waiting for me to organize them. Rattle, peer, paw, search, gosh, darn. Nothing. I decided that I’d have to make a special trip to a drug store, and that frustrated me terrifically.

Then the drawer I was pawing through got stuck and wouldn’t retreat to its proper place. Gee whiz, can’t catch a break. Then the stress turned global: Nothing in this house works. I can’t handle simple tasks. If I could just reach back, and grab whatever’s keeping this miserable drawer from sliding. Oh, I got it. What is this?

Lip balm. Stuck behind the drawer was a fresh tube of lip balm. Awash with gratitude, I realized that the thing annoying me was actually the object of my search. Do you ever have experiences like that?