To take a cue from Alexander, last week I had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. My brother did, too, as an aside, and there was a point when I could've easily borrowed his status update (warning: if blotted-out profanity offends you, click away now) for it read, quite simply: "S#^* on this day. I'm out." Doesn't that just say it all?
The day's fallout was as exhausting to process and it was to address but, as is the case with all terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days, I had opportunity to learn a thing or two. Like that, despite my many faults, standing up and taking ownership for where I blow it is still a strength in my character. And I learned that trying to live outside your skin is rarely (what I want to say is never but never say never, right?) a good idea.
But the biggest lesson I learned wasn't a new one at all; rather, it was more of a boxing of the ear or clocking on the head that reminded me of what I already know. All waves eventually wash to ripples and nothing is as big as the emotion behind it pushes to swell. Or, in a twist of the obvious: it's only as complicated as we make it, so just choose to let it go as you file another in the live and learn column.
So what was the lesson?
Perspective. For me, it seems it always is. Friday night was a long-ago scheduled Girls Night Sleepover at my mother-in-law's house for me and Grace. We ate, we laughed, we snuggled up by a fire, and dwelled as family....not one tension to be had. Saturday brought dinner with old friends and recollections of fond memories while simply being. And Sunday I stood in our church with many people I didn't know and reflected on how small and contrived our issues can actually be in the face of Africa or massive strokes.
But best of all, I remembered anew the power of marriage to my best friend who understands me better than even I do and never fails to have my back.
I am so thankful for the markers in life that remind us to just calm down. To breathe. To celebrate the "so much" we have rather than the bits of what we've lost. Or, as I recently posted on FB, to know that we are blessed beyond measure...and that's sayin' somethin'.
Kind of makes a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day not nearly so much after all.
The day's fallout was as exhausting to process and it was to address but, as is the case with all terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days, I had opportunity to learn a thing or two. Like that, despite my many faults, standing up and taking ownership for where I blow it is still a strength in my character. And I learned that trying to live outside your skin is rarely (what I want to say is never but never say never, right?) a good idea.
But the biggest lesson I learned wasn't a new one at all; rather, it was more of a boxing of the ear or clocking on the head that reminded me of what I already know. All waves eventually wash to ripples and nothing is as big as the emotion behind it pushes to swell. Or, in a twist of the obvious: it's only as complicated as we make it, so just choose to let it go as you file another in the live and learn column.
So what was the lesson?
Perspective. For me, it seems it always is. Friday night was a long-ago scheduled Girls Night Sleepover at my mother-in-law's house for me and Grace. We ate, we laughed, we snuggled up by a fire, and dwelled as family....not one tension to be had. Saturday brought dinner with old friends and recollections of fond memories while simply being. And Sunday I stood in our church with many people I didn't know and reflected on how small and contrived our issues can actually be in the face of Africa or massive strokes.
But best of all, I remembered anew the power of marriage to my best friend who understands me better than even I do and never fails to have my back.
I am so thankful for the markers in life that remind us to just calm down. To breathe. To celebrate the "so much" we have rather than the bits of what we've lost. Or, as I recently posted on FB, to know that we are blessed beyond measure...and that's sayin' somethin'.
Kind of makes a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day not nearly so much after all.
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