The Ups and Downs
A long time ago I
went to a fireside where Blaine Yorgansen was speaking. He told a story about
bad day in his sisters life. At the time
I had a house full of little ones and this story had me laughing so hard! Her
bad day just continuely got worse as the day went on. One Big disaster to the
next. He had wrote a story something like "The terrible, real bad, rotten,
horrible day" (It's been so long ago that I don't remember exactly what it
was just the gist of it) I had had days like that and could so identify! He mentioned the only way to deal with a day
like that is to see the humor and laugh...or the tears will start to roll and
have a hard time stopping.
I've laughed
through lots of difficult times, but I realized that there are times when you
can't just laugh it away. Some
challenges require instant attention, grabbing the bull by the horns and
getting it handled. Some require
patience and lots of time. Some just don't have a solution and you have to live
with them...and some you can ignore and hope they go away ...and if they don't
put them off to deal with later when you are better prepared. (note: bills are
not on the put off till later category!)
One of my
difficult days started out at seven a.m. with a call from a friend. We had just saw her and her husband two weeks
before at the Mormon Miracle Pageant. They had come over to my parents in Moroni after it was over and
we ate late, a delicous dutch oven dinner. Her husband showed us a piece of
gold that he had mined from his gold mine. On this morning she had called to
tell me that he had been murdered. Mom
called next and we talked about ordering some flowers for the funeral. My next
call was to tell me my neighbor Ann Barker had died from cancer. The next three
calls were concerning flowers for her funeral. The day continued and the same
note with two other phone calls dealing with a relative or friends death. It
was over whelming. Then at six p.m. my
Grandma Johnson pulls into my driveway.
I ran out so excited to see her and gave her a big hug. Then I heard the phone ringing and I said to
Grandma "I don't want to answer that, every time it's rang today it's been
someone that I know and love has died or about getting flowers for their
funerals" She said "I'll get
it for you honey" so I let
her. It was my mom calling to say my
Grandpa Christensen had just died. It
wasn't a laughing sort of day...I had been totally wiped out emotionally...then
my little Katie and Travis said "Can we show Gt-Grandma our hat
dance?" and the whole bad day
turned around. My heart was still heavy
and sad but I realized how important it was to continue living, loving and
smiling. How I appreciated my little ones cheering me up and entertaining us. We went on to have a very enjoyable evening.
The challenges
of having a houseful of little ones are pretty much challenges of the past for
me now. I look back and remember those
"good ole days" so fondly. And
try to fill the house with grandchildren. I love stirring up a batch of cookies
for the grandchildren or playing games with them or listening to a song they
are working on or hearing a poem or story they have written, hearing about what
is happening in their lives, ect.
As I look
back, or as I reflect on daily events, I realize that every age and every stage
has it's own set of ups and downs. I
love where I am at...and I have loved where I've been. It does my heart good to reflect back on
events that have happened...the good and the bad...as they all add up to a sum
of who and what I am now.
No comments:
Post a Comment