Summer Trips - in the yard and stuff...

I took a half day of vacation today.

It's Fri-yay, afterall. Frinally.  And every other bad Friday pun you can think of.  So why not, yes?

I thought about all the incredible things I would do with those precious hours throughout my entire commute.  Which is approximately 7 minutes long.

Despite the intense heat (should I not know better after 17yrs?), I thought I would enjoy wringing my mind out by taking a trip down to our sorta local boat rental park, climbing into my favorite boat, driving it out to the center of all that is good, and getting in touch with that tiny part of me that is considered Native American.  It's probably 15% or something...my grandmother's grandmother...whatever the calculus thinks.

I (finally, approximately 7 mins later, ugh...) arrived home and quickly became distracted by the plethora of unfinished household tasks.  Dishes in the sink.  A random chicken that escaped her run.  No, seriously.  The fact that there were only 3 towels left for showers, unless you wouldn't mind using a damp one in that pile over there.  Two remaining rolls of toilet paper, clearly enough for me for 24hrs, but not the other family members.  And the trash cans were still out at the end of the road.

I figured I'd just get that stuff together and THEN I'd be lake bound...

So I tried to:

• put the dishes away, but kept dropping them  
• put a sandwich together, but dropped that too
• hand my son his cell phone, but bounced it off the floor 
• walk up the stairs with the towels, but tripped and caught myself with my left wrist (that really could have felt better)
• bring the trash cans up and around the back of the house, but stepped wrong and fell...down...tucked...and rolled...literally...for approximately 5 feet...'cause our front yard is a slight hill
• get in the car to take my son to work, but didn't lift my leg high enough, caught it on the sill, and fell into the driver's seat
• tell my son I was fine and I was going to go to the lake for a little while, but he made faces at me and said, "Mom.  Please.  Just go home and stay there."

Nobody puts Baby in a corner.  

"How's your time off going, Tina?" 

Like this, thanks:

While this all sounds somewhat negative, it certainly isn't meant to be.  In fact?  You can be assured that:

• if anyone was driving by as I was rolling down the hill of my yard, they were impressed with my athleticism.  I make this look good.
• my dog doesn't mind the hand tremors, because he gets the dropped food
• my son will no longer trust me to carry his phone 
• I'm done with housework for the day, I'll tell you THAT right now...it's rather dangerous

And last but not least?  Be assured that I'll be on that boat at some point ;)

Happy Anniversary...With Love and Literal Hugs - MS

Like sands through the hourglass...

You're finishing that statement, aren't you.  Come on.  Say it.  Say it with me :)

"so are the days of our lives"

Can I digress for a moment?  Of course I can.  As long as I stay in italics.  Can I just share that I planned approximately 2.75 years of college courses around Days of Our Lives episodes?  And what was that show that immediately followed?  Wait...Another World!!!  That's it!  Oh how I loved those shows.  The only reason it wasn't a complete 3 years is because I was excused from my dorm shortly after starting freshman year.  "Excused" is polite for kicked out.  Ohhhh temper temper.  You've never done a single positive thing in my life, but I embrace you nonetheless.

Okay let's get out of italics.  

Like sands through the hourglass...MS has been around for 17 years...so are the days of my life.

Each year at this time, I find myself doing an overview of sorts.  I look back on the early days.  The scans, the plethora of appointments, the medicinal failures, the falls, the eye mess, the nerve pain/numbness/pain/tinglies/pain mess, the...mess.  My mind then walks me forward to the fuhhteeg, more nerve mess, the word salad mess, the walking into stuff mess - which is actually quite funny (like when the chiropractor asks if that's a bruise on your back and of.course.it.is, because you can't walk backwards out of the laundry room, basket in hands, without misjudging yourself in space and DOORKNOB!) 

I forgot where I was going with that, aside from running into stuff with my body.

Anyway, I look at it all.  Then, I compare it to today.  And to last summer.  Because last summer, I had that swallowing thing.  This summer, I have the mobility thing.  I can't remember 2 summers ago, so maybe that was a memory thing.

But.

As I peek at my screen through the steam of my coffee...and listen to peaceful worship music...I'm reminded that...it's okay.  

It's really okay.

I'm allowed to look back at those yuck things.  I just have to try not to live there.  I have to remember that the Lord has already worked everything out waaaaay ahead of my schedule and definitely far in advance of the yuck.  I need to remember that no yuck is a surprise to Him.  In fact, as I look back and see how things have worked in just such a way to care for my family and myself in the times of yuck over the past 17yrs, I can't *not* see the Lord's provision.  Sometimes, it was friends and family who helped with yardwork, weeding, and even digging small trees out of our rain gutters.  In others, it was meals, snacks, and desserts randomly showing up at our front door.  To this day, I still don't know which one of my friends it was, but my heart will always smile at the surprise of the doorbell ringing, the opening of the door, the seeing of a car out in the middle of the road, the wondering as to whaaaat was going on, and the finding of a glorious piece of homemade cheesecake at the door with a beautiful card attached.  That?  Was awesome.  It all?  Has been awesome.  But, there's more.  Because just the other day, another huge blessing.  This one arrived as a bag of clothing that was shipped to our door for my son.  See, he was set to attend a conference this week and realized that he had outgrown all of his presentable clothing.  He had purchased enough formal clothing, but was short by about 3 days' worth of neat-but-more-casual attire.  Guess what was in the bag?  4 days' worth.  Because that's how God does it.  And this friend had absolutely no idea that he didn't have everything he needed.  She simply decided to bless him.  The joy in his eyes?  The relief that came over him?  Well, that just put everything else into perspective.    

These blessings serve as my reminder that we don't do this life alone.  Even when anxiety, or fear, or even MS tries to sell me that lie.  I need only look as far as my front porch. 

So are the days of our lives...

Oh, and here's the song I had been listening to as I wrote.  It's my son's favorite version of How Great Is The Love.  Blame him for any goosebumps ;)