Terribly Meaning

It was a terribly rainy morning in the city, and Sarah had just stepped out of her apartment when the first drop of water hit her face. She pulled her coat tighter around her shoulders and wished she'd checked the weather forecast. The traffic was terribly slow, as everyone seemed to be in the same boat, trying to get to work while dodging puddles and honking horns. It had been a long time since she'd felt this miserable on a Monday morning. But the day took a surprising turn when she arrived at the office. Her boss, usually a stickler for deadlines, greeted her with an unexpected compliment. 'You did terribly well on that last report,' he said, nodding approvingly. Sarah felt her heart lighten; it wasn't often she received praise for her work. Later in the day, she ran into an old friend at the coffee shop near her office. 'Sarah, you look terribly familiar! Have we met before?' the friend asked with a bright smile. Turns out, it was someone she'd worked with years ago. They spent the next hour reminiscing about old times and laughing over coffee. By the time Sarah headed home, the rain had stopped, and the city looked refreshed, almost beautiful under the setting sun. She realized that, while the day had started terribly, it ended up being a lot better than she had expected. In fact, it had turned out to be terribly pleasant after all. As she walked home, she thought about how often her mood could shift from one extreme to another. 'Terribly,' she mused, 'is such a flexible word. It can mean something bad, or it can just make something ordinary sound so much more intense.'