What the WHAT?!

Have you ever had one of those days or weeks where things just seem to be going wrong? You might even begin to rethink your religion and start thinking back on your life.

Karma?

Are you real?

Fortunately for me I know it's not. Certainly, with the list of things I've done in my "previous" life, I would be...well...dead.

But it truly has been one of those days, weeks, ...actually months for me. It seems like every turn I take is a backward slide. It really is a bunch of silliness and the overall big picture is just a big joke with friends asking if I'm making this stuff up.

I promise. I'm not. And actually I want to laugh out loud thinking about it.  I really do!

Here's what happened today.

The good:

• Drs. appointment for a followup on my injury. I'm right on target and ready for physical therapy
• Got an exercise I can do three times a day at home to keep my back muscles loose.
• Received my referral for PT and set up six appointments
• Was told the massage therapy I was receiving is a good thing and to keep it up
• Received a referral to another doctor specializing in injuries because MY doctor uses him and really admires the physician
• Received a referral to another doctor to get specific answers on an area of health I'm concerned with.

I left the doctor's office and physical therapy practice feeling like I was on the right path to continued healing. I was feeling...FANTASTICO!

And then the series that led to the bad:

Parking lot.

Phone call to husband, telling him how the appointment went.

Speaker, phone on my lap.

Pull away from INOVA Fair Oaks Hospital.

Waiting at red light.

Boom. BOOM!

Head bangs, scream.

What the WHAT?!!

Ummmm...I was just in a car accident where the driver behind me was sandwiched by my vehicle and the driver who hit him at full speed. The impact was strong enough to jolt me in my seat and make the van jump forward. Luckily, I had enough space in front that I did not hit the car ahead of me.

I was actually surprised to see how little damage my vehicle had sustained. I mean...little. Thankfully everyone was alright. I've had a few side effects that haven't been pleasant but that is only because I'm already a walking mess of bumps and bruises.  I know I will be fine. 

But the moment that pleased me most was when the initial "What the WHAT?!" wore off and I was alone in the van. I started to laugh. I actually couldn't stop laughing. That poor kid, of ALL the people he could have hit, the chain reaction he caused hit ME - the woman who JUST left the physical therapy office because of an injury two months ago. ME - the woman who just doesn't seem to be getting a break and is falling or tripping or sneezing or breathing!

Yes, me. This woman.

At the same time I began to realize how thankful I was that the young man on his cell phone had hit me. Like I told him and the other gentleman AND the insurance company, I am an honest woman and have no desire to claim my injuries are the fault of any driver. I saw that man's face and how upset he was. Yes, he was in the wrong. No, he shouldn't have been fumbling on his cell phone and YES, he should have seen stopped traffic in front of him. But, even though I did follow procedure and answer all the adjuster's questions, I knew what that young man needed more than anything at that moment was grace.  I told him I was fine and to stay off that cell phone and pay attention to the road. Next time he may not be so lucky.

Because you see, karma isn't real.  Often times things just happen and other times we have to accept the consequence of our actions or inaction.  For me today served as a funny reminder of something very real.  I usually go about my day or plan my week by saying, "I'll do this...or that" when I know full well that I have NO IDEA of when my time is up on this side of eternity.

My job, aside from being a wife and mother, is to love and extend grace whenever possible to those I come in contact with.  Even when things may seem to come out of nowhere and I say "what the WHAT?!", I have every opportunity to be salt and light just as Jesus said. I don't know what will come out of the conversations I had today. All I know is that they all were able to laugh and enjoy my take on the whole event.  It's not up to me what each of them do or even if they will remember the things I said.

So the next time you find yourself in a situation where your normal human reaction COULD be anger or disappointment or frustration with another human being, try to extend the grace we all desperately need so much and let them know God is good. 

You never know. You just may get a "what the WHAT?!" from them.

Blessings for your day,

Oops...I did it again.

Again? Yes again. I fell down.

I was getting the children ready for bed and looking forward to posting tonight. It was a good day and you and I were going to have some fun.

But...

What is happening is that my range of motion is getting pretty fluid... but I usually don't get a reminder that I've gone too far until its too late -- as was the case tonight.

Oh well I guess.

The pain is pretty narly and my back has seized up. I've had my tea, NSAID drugs, ointment and now laying down on my back pads.

That's the great part.

Did you catch it?

I'm laying down writing this post!

During this down time over the past seven  weeks, I have been catching up on technology. Just this past week, I downloaded Blogger to my phone so I could keep up with my commitment to post daily even if on vacation.

Do you know what is even better?

I have voice command. I'm speaking into my phone and it is typing this out for me. Isn't that just brilliant?!

So I may be down for the night but I'm not down for the count. I will hit "send" on this post and claim it as a victory.

Recovery...in the age of hand held voice command technology. Now if I could use the same for my tailbone to finally fully heal, I can rock on with my bad self.

In the meantime, no more trying to dance to pop music.

The bar has been set

So yesterday I wrote about lifting my eyes and my spirit by actually setting a goal so low, that I could reach it.

The bar has been set...and the clock has started.

Here we go.

I'm thankful for the example of perseverance in others or even in nature. I give you the Common Milkweed, Asclepias Syriaca.  This little tender shoot is growing right smack dab in the middle of our yard.

To which you could easily ask, "What's the big deal? Don't you grow milkweed anyway?"

Yes, yes we do. But we have an area where we grow them so they are not mowed down like this one will be.  As a matter of fact, it will be mowed down a few times this summer...as it was mowed down last year. It just keeps coming back, like most weeds do. However, if you know me, you know the significance of this particular plant.  It is the sole source of food for the Monarch Butterfly and if you know even a little about the Monarch, you know that it has a long journey every year from its wintering grounds in Mexico to parts as far as Canada during the summer months.

Along the way they need this plant but unfortunately many of the vast fields where the milkweed has grown freely have been almost eliminated by human population or soybean and corn crops. It's not necessarily a bad thing but what is sad is that these plants can grow alongside roads and in parks but they are cut down.

And the Monarchs' numbers are dropping. Drastically.

Of course there are other factors as well, but for the Monarchs that do survive, they need milkweed to lay their eggs.  No other plant will do for their hungry little caterpillars.

Here's the genius part. These different varieties of milkweed, with the common milkweed being the most nutritious (as I'm told), are just that --weeds. They will grow almost anywhere and they multiply like crazy. They come back, year after year, mow after mow. They are persistent plants and they have a sole purpose -- to continue the life cycle of the Monarch.  It's almost like God knew. [wink, wink]

What?!

He knew mankind would flourish and fill the earth, after all God did command it. He knew the fragile life cycle of the Monarch would be compromised at some point. So in turn, God planned ahead and made the Monarch and the Milkweed partners. He provided the migratory encoding and the wintering grounds. All the Monarch has to do is wait out the winter and God would provide a resilient little plant that can stand as tall as 4ft in some places.

The smallest of smalls isn't so small when it has a purpose.

And no matter where I am planted, I have a purpose.  If negative thought mows me down, I need to remember persistence, just like the common milkweed, and keep coming back. I can give thanks to God for the now, and not concern myself with what I am missing out on.

"If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers -- most of which are never even seen -- don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works, fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met." Mt 6:30-33 (MSG)

Suffering produces perseverance and perseverance produces character. And if beauty is truly on the inside, then may my character be as beautiful as the Monarch butterfly in the hands of someone who loves it very much.

Blessings for your day,




all photos taken by Lisa Arnold with my Canon PowerShot SX150 IS 14 Megapixel 12X Optical Zoom Black Digital

Sitting is SO overrated

I never thought I would miss this blog so much, but I do. Just when I had gotten myself into a regular pattern of reading, writing in my journal, and a commitment to post...WHAM!

Oops.

I fell down...and broke my tailbone.

Just this morning as I was lamenting not being able to sit and write out a new blog post, the light turned on. Literally.

Matthew - "Mommy! I have no more short sleeve shirts for tomorrow!"

Nevermind that he was already wearing a shirt and there were shirts that needed to be folded.  I simply smiled, kissed him saying "thank you" and told him I would wash more for him today. I figured he was only trying to help me plan my day.

My limited-in-which-tasks-I-can-do day. Another day in where I am completely at the mercy of my pain level and range of motion.  Add to the mix that I must have done something without thinking the other day and my tailbone really hurts again. I mean really hurts.

[grunt]

BUT this is not a pity party. Even if it were...I'm not attending.

Back to the purpose of this post, even if it is just for me.  As I lay in bed feeling sorry for myself and what I cannot do, our son's quick burst into my room and announcement was actually more of a reminder of what has actually been happening in our home. Somehow, instead of feeling worse...I smiled.  I smiled because I recognized that our son knew he had been a HUGE help in our home for the past several weeks.  He was (without saying), letting me know that he needed clean clothes to fold and that he would be willing to get the clothes out of the drying after school.

Why?

Because that has been our routine.

I can't really bend over and if something falls on the floor, I can't pick it up.  I don't have the back support strength to lift grocery shopping bags, sweep, vacuum, carry the laundry basket, clean the bathrooms, empty the dryer or dishwasher...etc.  BUT, I can do things at level while standing like dusting, baking, going through mail, looking out the window, walk short distances...slowly. AND all these things I CAN DO have been done with the children. I've been available to be with them.

This injury has limited me in so many ways that my busyness has dropped down to just above ZERO. My inability to do many tasks has given way to purpose and greater responsibility on our children. Now this isn't to say they didn't have chores before nor that our house is spotless.  It simply means that I have been FORCED to allow the children to go through the learning process of completing a task fully with hidden lessons for myself.

No, I can't simply load the dishwasher because I don't want to wait for the kids to come home. I can't bend over that low and I need to learn patience.

No, I can't just fold all the laundry myself because it would be faster. My back pain won't let me and I need to remember that pride can disguise itself in "just trying to be efficient".

No, I can't vacuum myself because I'll do a better job. I don't have the back strength and I need to teach proper technique with encouragement in order to not break their spirits.

And much, much, much more.

The quality level for these chores had been set low enough that the children are reaching them and they find great joy in accomplishing those tasks. So much so that they are beginning to aim higher and do better work.  It really has become a pleasure to watch and another lesson for myself to learn.

I had a choice. Either let the house go completely or allow a job to be completed with best effort, no matter the final appearance.  After all, isn't that exactly what God asks of me?  He wants my best effort. He doesn't want me to give up just because the things I want to accomplish aren't getting done the way I think they should be.

I have a choice. I can lay around all day and feel sorry for myself OR I can set a goal so low that I will reach it and feel I have accomplished something. Yes, I do have to lay for most of the day. I have to heal. It's not going to happen with me moving around and doing things. I may not be physically able do many things BUT, I can certainly disarm negative thought.

So for now, and because sitting is SO overrated, I'm going to set a small goal for myself. Every day I will find something, anything, that is worth remembering or being grateful for and post here as often as once a day. It may have words or it may just be a picture.  All I know is that I won't have to sit long to accomplish that goal.

This post took me THREE sitting sessions to complete.

Three.

Sitting is SO overrated!

Blessings for your day,

Ouch!

Some of you already know why I am absent...again. And since I have more readers than just the loyal followers, I thought it might be best to inform all why I am silent.

Again.

Two weeks ago I fell and broke my tail bone.

Ouch.

Sitting for any extended period of time is simply too painful, so I find myself laying on my side and watching hours of mindless television. Not very inspiring, huh?

Ouch.

I'm going to change the things about my day that make me sad and catch up on some reading instead of laying down and feeling sorry for myself. And now since I've sat here long enough to let you know why I've been missing, again, my butt hurts.

Go ahead. I give you permission to laugh

Ouch.

Blessings for your day,