Doing the Impossible

Lori's comment made me laugh, and made me think... you know, we've done a lot of things that I have heard other people "can't" do or do and think it's a huge hardship, and we just do it because it needs doing... Like in church one time we heard about a couple complaining that they had to spend the night on the floor in sleeping bags in their apartment until their bed came the next day. We just looked at each other. We have slept in tents in January in the mountains with unexpected snow. We have slept in sleeping bags on the floor for MONTHS at a time. We have slept on cold waterbeds (okay half the night, then I was so cold I went and found an inside corner and all the clothes and dishtowels in the house-which wasn't much- and made a nest). I have slept in my car. When I still had babies at home I slept standing at the sink with my hands in the warm water washing dishes, when I woke up the water was cold. This newb (or noob as it's called in texting) obviously had not had a very exciting life.

I have collected, hauled, split and stacked wood. I have used it to heat my home. I have dug ditches, holes for plants, in the mud and rain. I have weeded and pruned and fertilized. I have canned my own food. I have helped sheetrock, tape, texture, paint, stain, trim, hang and decorate. I have collected free bricks, chipped off mortar and used it to make walkways in the yard. I have scrounged lovely things for our use, rescuing everything from plants to fireplaces from the jaws of the garbage truck. I have been hungry. I have had blisters and calluses and splinters and actually hurt myself too. I have insulated and filtered and gotten on the internet to learn how to fix my own appliances. I learned technology younger than me. I have had my husband painting items for his car and "firing" them in my oven, ruining my lasagne. I have had him put a transmission housing in my dishwasher.... black specks on all my dishes for months. I have had my clothes spray painted in their laundry baskets. I have push started cars more than a hundred times. I have scars from a Derby I push started... I have lived in two foreign countries (Germany and Alabama!) where I did not speak the language (well), I have gone through snowstorms and thunderstorms and hurricanes, broken appliances, broken cars, broken plumbing and broken electrical systems, wars and rumors of wars, watched the Berlin Wall come down, watched the twin towers come down...Run out of gas in a foreign country after all the gas stations were closed, 100 miles from home. Gotten on the wrong bus. Put on a dinner for 500 under budget with nearly no help, and I have lived on Top Ramen and cabbage soup... And I am so much richer for these experiences.

I have also been to concerts, fairs, balls, and auctions. I have owned a house with a pool. I have visited several places and seen several distinct and unique cultures. I have eaten food from all over the world. (Except authentic Chinese, Steve kind of put me off that idea!) I have met wonderful people everywhere I went and loved things about every place I was (except Barstow. Yech. But I was only there one night, and the car was hit while we were sleeping, so it was just not a "feel the love" kind of experience!) I have four incredible kids who have taught me more than I would ever have learned anywhere else, and I have more blessings than I can count. So I am glad for the "bad" because it makes me appreciate the "good" more... and after a while the line blurrs so much it's hard to see the bad in the good and the good in the bad, it's just all kind of amusing.

It's all a matter of perspective and I understand the look I see on faces of those who were born before me when young people cry about their lot. When you see friends die of cancer, lose a child, lose a job after an injury, you put things in a different light.

Time to count blessings!