I Call For a Do-Over!

The past month has been a hard one for John and me. We have had emotional, financial, and temporal pressures that at times have felt overwhelming, as though we would be strained beyond the breaking point.

A quick evaluation of the past few weeks:

• Two trips to the vet with a sick kitty
• Summer school frustrations (lack of preparation for the course at upper levels)
• Accident and loss of a vehicle (through someone else's lack of attention)
• Hours spend on the road and in hospital waiting rooms
• Rescheduling of vacation
• Lots of bad food, and not enough rest
• Death and funeral of a parent
• Re-scheduling vacation at the last minute

(Insert amazing vacation in Colorado with our closest friends)

• Slow insurance response
• Vehicle purchase (used most of our savings)
  
• News that we won't get summer school wages until late August

Except for the time spent in Colorado, these weeks have been just awful - so much that I don't know how we would have made it through without the support of our best friends. They came to the funeral, gave financial advice, and offered support.

Remember when you were a kid? If you were anything like me, you goofed up a lot. Especially in sports, I made many mistakes that frustrated me. A missed shot, a dropped ball... these game-enders sometimes had to be remedied with a call for a "Do-Over." It meant that the prior attempt was only practice... so now, get ready for the real thing! Well, I would like to put in for a do-over dating back to one month ago, please.

Even as I write this, though, I know that I wouldn't change the way things happened, if given a chance. We are recovering, and we have had a powerful reminder of the value of friendship. No, I wouldn't change the outcome, but I would change the time frame. I think that was enough stress to last us until the onslaught of the holidays!