i {heart} no good, really bad days

seriously. i do. (just not when i am having one)

this entry on my blog is just a little (okay, maybe not so little) blurb about a really bad day a few weeks ago. read on if you would like.



it was going to be a "fun" day. dd #2 was going to get her haircut and then we planned to have lunch at the bakery with grandma d before pre-school. woot woot, an outing for me! (it doesn't take much to thrill me these days)

the "getting out" part of life is limited these days and it takes A LOT of work to actually do this successfully. on this particular morning it was not successful. our van, with which i have a love/hate relationship with, was for sure on my hate list. we got all bundled up and trekked out to the garage and it decided not to start. soooo... no outing for us and we all trekked back into the house (mind you it is below zero cold out and i have a newborn babe to carry along as well as my mother who had been wearing a scarf INSIDE the house not as a fashion statement but because she was chilled) now i had a very sad daughter who was probably more bummed about not having a doughnut with grandma than missing her haircut.

a bit later as i am still thinking mean thoughts about our van, i switch the laundry and then head back upstairs to chat with my mom. as i am talking to her i notice that my wedding ring is broken. the large central diamond is missing.

heart sinks. big lump forms in my throat. pit in my stomach forms.

i head back down to the laundry room to stop the washer just in case it is floating amongst the clothes. through my tears i begin taking out each article of clothing to check for the diamond. wallowing in feelings of despair and self pity my dear hubby calls and i have to tell him why i am so upset.

he comes straight home. cause that is the kind of man he is. the best kind.

we search. everywhere. including the garbage. (ick)

i give up. to me, it is harder than looking for a needle in a haystack because at least then you have a defined space to look in. i had no idea when or where i lost the diamond that morning. it could have been anywhere in the house or even outside buried in the mass of snow piled up from the christmas blizzard.

chad had to go back to work and as he was about to leave he looked down on the kitchen floor and just in front of the stove was the diamond.

WOW.

big hugs, joy, relief.

time to switch the laundry. i take the load out of the dryer and the first thing i pull out has strange pink and purple spots on it. huh. that wasn't there when i put that in the dryer. i take the next thing out, it too is sporting new pink and purple spots. ugh. a remnant of a crayon wrapper comes out next. SUPER. the entire load of non-bleachable clothes has purple and pink crayon all over them. seriously.

grandma d assures me that this is the 3rd bad thing to happen today and this would be it. (cause bad things happen in 3's, right?)

i just want to crawl into bed and have the day be done already. (it's only noon)

i decide to give up on doing anything productive and get online, see what is happening on facebook, fully intending to tell everyone "what's on my mind."
i notice that several of my WA facebook friends have joined a group that is praying for someone. after a little research i realize that 3 little girls no longer have a daddy. a young wife is now a single mom to those 3 little girls. the brother to one of my classmates from high school died in a horrible farm accident that morning leaving behind his wife and 3 little girls.

i cannot fathom the pain. the loss.

my no good, very bad day? not so bad anymore.

i say a prayer of thanks to God for my family, all safe and sound, surrounding me with joy and love.

when i go to bed that night and i drop my toothbrush on the floor and the "spin" part of the brush cracks off, i could care less. i toss it in the garbage, grateful that my kids are safely tucked in their beds, my husband snoring in ours.

so you see, that is why i {heart} those kind of days. now, each time i see my newly fixed, sparkly wedding ring or the pink and purple spots that are stuck to my favorite shirt (despite valiant attempts to remove them) and my daughters snazzy, cute haircut, i am reminded of this day. reminded of the lesson learned. life is a precious gift. material things mean nothing. thank you Jesus for my family, my friends, my life and all i {heart}