It has been a trying week. Everybody has those right? When everything seems to fall in all at once? That is how my week has gone. As I run you through a few trials I have faced, do you see how we need to count our blessings in each of the situations?
It started like every other week, go to bed late and get up early. Kids need to be ready by 6:20am to get on the bus. It just happens to be a month of dress up for my daughter’s school…let’s see, Tuesday is Tie-Dye day. Check we have a blue shirt that fits the bill, even though it’s mostly a bedtime shirt. As soon as my little one is on the bus, I head to work. 7 hours on concrete and come home to a very happy puppy. Get kids off the bus…..dinner, sleep, back up Wednesday for the same thing but it’s BLUE day at school, find a blue shirt for the 5-year-old that won’t get out of bed today!
Thursday starts off a little better with no work for me this morning. So, getting my daughter around is much easier…but it won’t be an easy day. I got a call later in the day from my Daddy, right as my husband pulled in the driveway. He had fallen and was unable to get up. Now I have to race to my Dad on super icy roads…because winter has no consideration when it comes to travel! It took me 2 hours to take care of Dad, he was heavy and helpless, boo Parkinson’s!!
Okay Friday, behave! It’s a 3-hour work day for me, just working over the lunch hour. I get kids off to school, spend some much-needed time with the puppy playing, then head off to work. I barely got in the door and the manager had a look of relief in his eyes. I dropped my stuff, put on my gloves and cooked grinders, pizzas and calzones for 3 straight hours….no stopping, one right after the other…orders were coming in and we had 2 business orders of 21 grinders and 9 pizzas on top of everything else.
The weekend is here! Then an old friend tells me about a lady who needs help kind of close to me that she can no longer assist. I speak to the daughter and I start Monday. The weekend flies by. Monday, work my 7 grueling hours on cement and racing around cooking for everybody and their brother lunch…. only to leave at 2, find out my son started track today (he hadn’t told dad or I), so he can’t get his sister off the bus, my husband is still at work and can’t answer. Grandma says she will. Phew. Go to the 2nd job.
This lady is 89 and still sleeping! It’s 2:15 when I get there! Wake her up, she needs to take her meds, clean up cat litter (yuck), sweep and sweep floors and vacuum rugs. “Please take your medicine!” Wipe down the kitchen, clean downstairs bath, sweep and vacuum the downstairs floors. This lady is just barking orders and watching me the whole time. I don’t ever claim to be a neat freak, so somebody critiquing me while I do it causes some anxiety. But as I get in the truck to head home, I feel a sigh of relief that my feet scream to me. I then remember, I have to do this all again tomorrow! But as tomorrow comes (today), my daughter is a complete grouch and as I am repeating “Come on, time to go to the bus, get out here!” I hear it. She gags, she pukes…..it’s like the volume of life is turned down to zero. No school bus, no school, no work…but I do have to go to my lady for a few hours, but that can wait until someone else can sit with my daughter.
Here is where the blessings come in. I am blessed that my daughter just has a bug and I get to be with her today. I am blessed my daddy called me to help him. I am blessed my son is back into a physical team sport. I am blessed I have a job that I got a $20 tip for my hard work on those subs Friday. I am blessed to have a second job that will create more income for me. I am blessed in my life in so many ways. With the Jesus by my side, I will endure this life with a smile.