Tuesday, July 12, 2016

When life is messy, expensive, too busy, and ridiculously great...

Charlie... enjoying life on my lap in his teenage years... those nose freckles kill me...  

I have to admit... this summer has been challenging. It's funny to look back around April when I was trying to decide how many grad school classes to take over the summer. I really wanted to take 2, because if I took 2 classes in the summer, and 2 classes next fall... I could be considered mid-way through my program, like most of my classmates...

However, after some much needed guidance from the husband and my wellness coach Cheryl... I realized, I should probably just stick with one class, at least for the shorter summer semester. Boy, did that end up being good advice.

Healthwise, everyone is fine. And that is a huge blessing. Housewise... after living in our home 8+ years now, we knew it was seriously time to start cracking down on some major repairs... which led to the discovery of one REALLY BAD contractor... and two very good ones. The bad contractor made life miserably uncomfortable for nearly a week. The good contractors fixed the mess left behind by the bad contractor and were wonderful... however all of that came at a cost.

Then, as with most things in life... when you start fixing problems... you run into more problems... so now we're working with a plumber to get the "newly-found-pool-located-under-the-house" dried up and the leak fixed...

M and 10 year old Emma. Our "new" 45 pound hamster... 

Throw in a new dog (long story...) with our five cats, a husband having 3 teeth removed for future braces, training a co-worker to be able to fully do my job (in the event of zombies or ya know taking a vacation or something...) and 6 assignments due at one time... I tell ya... I was really thankful for that advice to only take one class.

Something I truly struggle with in life is comparing myself to others and snowballing problems when they arise. Why can't I handle more classes? All my other classmates are... Why can't I handle getting a presentation for work done on top of life when it's crazy? Why do finances always seem to get drained at one time?  We won't even throw in the other natural frustrations that women often have like the "why can't I just be naturally thin... and eat all the cupcakes I want?" Why? Why? Whyyyyyyyy?

It's easy to fall into the "why" instead of accepting the "now."

Whiskey Jack, who always lives in "the now." 

"Now", just is.  It just is. There isn't necessarily a reason, there's no need to worry or wonder... you can simply be right here, right now. There are times when it's the hardest thing you will ever do... like the night when my Dad was barely hanging onto the last strands of life within him (and thank God he held on tight)... but there are other times when you realize accepting the "now" is the best place you can be.

Right now, the house is a mess... there's dog hair and dog slobber all over the kitchen floor even though I swept it two days ago.... Right now, my hair really needs to be washed and it probably looks greasy on top.... Right now, I have no clean white socks... Right now, the refrigerator is pretty empty and payday is a week away... Right now, we have a fan blowing through the crawl space at the house in the hopes the water from the leaky pipe will dry up...  Right now America feels like it's in the midst of a very dark storm, which has been heartbreaking to watch, devastating to hear, and everyone, EVERYONE feels it...

But also Right now, my dad is safe, resting with his feet up, probably watching a favorite classic movie on TV... or snoozing away the afternoon in his favorite recliner. Also right now... while the fridge might be empty, there's a filled up pantry and freezer and it's a fun time to get creative... Right now, we still have a 2nd bathroom to take a shower in and it was darn good timing to catch a bad leak... Right now there are people in my life who, because of programs like Obamacare (despite the room for necessary improvement) are actually healthy now because they were able to get the surgery or medicine they needed to make life "a-whole-lot-more-worth" living... Right now there's a happy, tail-waggin' dog waiting for me to get home to go on our 2nd walk of the day and I'm truly looking forward to that walk.

If I've learned anything the past few years it's that life comes in seasons. Busy seasons, messy seasons, scary seasons, fun seasons, expensive seasons... And sometimes all those seasons get mixed together in one big wallop. Usually, we don't know why. Often the best thing you can do is hang on, figure out where you're at right now, adjust your perspective if necessary, and just be.  (And on some nights, it's ALSO okay to know that a bowl of Breyers natural vanilla never hurts either...)


Some Cool Stuff I wish I wrote this week: 





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