My Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Yesterday was a VERY. BAD. DAY.

I've been under a lot of stress lately. As crazy as it sounds, I actually don't even realize it until I start getting extereme headaches that border on migraines and I can feel the stress in my neck. Yesterday was one of those days. It seemed like nothing was going right. I was hurting people's feelings (not on purpose!). There wasn't enough time in the day. It was just one thing after the next. All day long.

There were several things that almost led to tears.

I grabbed my computer bag out of the front seat of my car only to get my bad thumb caught in the strap. It hurt. BAD. I had tears in my eyes. I was afraid to pull back the band-aid and look. I'll spare you the details, but it's definitely going to add to the healing process.

I thought retail therapy would help. I finally went through my closet several weeks ago and got rid of EVERYTHING that gets on my nerves when I wear it. It actually wiped my closet clean. Now that winter is lingering, it doesn't seem like it was the brightest decision I've ever made, but that's a whole different story. I couldn't find anything I liked at the first three stores I went in. So, I decided to venture to the mall.

That's when real tragedy struck.

I was walking into the mall when my phone flew out of my hand and landed about a foot in front of me on the sidewalk. Not sure exactly what happened because it all happened fairly quickly. What I do know is that it didn't seem to hit the ground that hard, but when I picked it up, the glass was shattered. Not just a crack or two. More like 72.

I don't even want to admit all the relationship mishaps me and my iphone have been through. And I don't want to admit how many I've had in my possesion. But this isn't the first run-in I've had. If you're interested, you can read about the time my iphone jumed in the toilet here. Or how I couldn't live without it here, here, or here.

The point is, I know it's a "thing" and I shouldn't be as attached to it as I am. But the fact of the matter is, I am. I love it with every fiber of my being, but I do know that we cannot continue this relationship like this. It's just not healthy!

Conversations That Stick With You

Today I had the opportunity to have a conversation with a friend who lost his 18 year old brother just a few short weeks ago.

When I first found out, I wanted to do something, but I felt like I didn't have anything to offer. I've lost a family member. It's incredibly hard. And there's not much anyone can say to you that makes you feel better. To be completely honest, you don't really remember much of what anyone says during that time. I mean, you can say, "I'm sorry." but that's about all. In moments like that, nothing else really seems to matter.

I remember sitting down with this friend at a coffee shop several weeks after my dad died in 2006. I remember telling him this story from the funeral.

I was sitting next to my brothers with huge tears in my eyes and Kleenex stuffed in my hand. This horrible version of On Eagles Wings started playing. It had always been one of my dad's favorites. But this version was unbearable. It was like nails scraping against a chalkboard. My brothers and I started laughing...uncontrollably. I remember someone from the row behind us reaching up and putting their hand on my brother's back because they thought he was upset. We just sat there, laughing through tears. It felt so irreverant, but so appropriate all at the same time. My dad always hated when people who couldn't really sing would canter at church. I remember growing up, I always knew when a snide remark was coming based on the first few words of a song. And there we were at his own funeral listening to this awful rendition of one of his favorite songs. All we could do was laugh.

After I told my friend the story, he just looked at me through sips of his coffee, shrugged his shoulders and said, "Well, that's life. Sometimes it's pretty funny."

I have no idea why I remember that conversation, but it's one of the few from that time that I actually remember very vividly.

In the card I send him a few weeks back, I reminded my friend of that conversation and what he said to me and how it has stuck with me all these years. I told him that through the pain, I was praying that him and his family could remember the good times and remember to laugh...because sometimes, life is funny.

We talked today for a while about life and death and taking it all for granted. But through it all, I love that it was his own words that spoke to him more than anything else.

It's also funny that tonight, before I started this entry, I went back and read some of my posts from that time in my life (there aren't many because it was such a private time, I mostly used my journal). I found this excerpt from a prayer on the night my father died (To read the entire post, click here. ):

"Remind me to laugh at the little things.

Allow me to appreciate and savor the good times."

Looking back on it, it makes me so thankful that God answered that prayer. Today, I'm so thankful for love and laughter and those conversations that stick with you.

I LOVE the Olympics!

Last night, we had an Olympic party during the opening ceremonies. It was soooo much fun to kickoff the Olympics!


I'll admit that I'm actually a bigger fan of the Summer Olympics, but I'm not a huge winter fan in general, so it only makes sense. :)


I absolutely love figure skating. It's also super fun to watch speed skating...such a rush. I'm not so sure how I feel about the luge right now.

We love the Olympics!

GO USA!!

Team USA All The Way!

Me and DJ with our Olympic cookies

What's your favorite event?

What a Weekend...

So, I can't type much...and the reason for that will come soon enough.

This weekend I went to Gatlinburg with the youth. It was a very exhausting trip. We rolled back into town about 5 pm. Kickoff for the Super Bowl was at 5:30.

I was heading over to a friends house, fresh guacamole in tow. I was having some difficulty with the avacados because they weren't quite ripe enough. So I decided to take the "almost ready" guac anyway and just use her food processor when I got there.

I'd literally been there for five minutes. Okay, maybe seven. I grabbed a knife and cut the lime in half. I went to cut along the inside of the lime when something went really wrong. I'm not positive of exactly what happened, but I'll tell you this...Her knives are WAY sharper than mine. And I bled A LOT.

I spent all of halftime debating whether or not it was bad enough for stitches. We quickly realized there were no urgent care facilities open and I would have to go to the ER. Then I remembered that my last tetnus shot was probably when I was a sophomore in high school.

So, off to the ER we went...

Upon arriving, the doctor confirmed that I, in fact, need stitches. That was actually a relief that I'd made the right decision. An hour and ten minutes later, I was signing my release papers with three blue stitches in my thumb.

It doesn't really hurt, it's just kind of difficult to do anything.

I'm sure there will be more to tell as the days go on...