I'm growing!

It was a craptastic morning.

Literally. Craptastic.

Because the dog is sick. And she's been getting sick all over the apartment, and waking us up to go out and be sick, only this morning, she didn't. She just couldn't wait, and I came out to the overwhelming unpleasant odor of... sick.

And I was going in to volunteer at school, so I needed to get myself ready to go, so when I went back into the bedroom to get ready, I was more than a little peeved to find one of the cats on my bed. Attempting to cover the fact that she'd just peed. ON. MY. BED.

Then I knocked a full cup of ice water off the bathroom counter as I started to put makeup on my face, breaking the cup and flooding the floor.

And when I got home from the school, I knew as soon as I walked in that Caroline needed to go to the vet. As I cleaned up the latest round of sick, getting ready to take out the trash and venting to my friend on the phone about the craptastic morning that wasn't over yet, I realized... my kids can't eat lunch today.

Because in the midst of all the crazy, I decided they could just buy lunch. But, I have no cash. And I forgot to write a check. So, I changed all the scents in my warmers, started another load of bed linens, hopped back in the car and dropped off a check so my kids can eat.

But... I'm not complaining. Really, I'm not. This is just the backstory. In the past, this would have all been dumped onto Facebook. In real time. As it happened. And as the thought occurred to me to share my craptastic morning with the world, in real time, so all my friends could "ew" and "aw" and "yuck" right along with me, instead, I heard John Denver in my head... "Some days are diamonds... Some days are stone... Sometimes the hard times won't leave us alone..."


So I posted that. And I was calmer. I wasn't happy about the events of the morning, but I wasn't going to bitch about it either.

In truth, my kids helped too. Because as we got into the car to go to school, the boy said something like, "Well, it's going to be a bad day." And I stopped. And thought for a second. And replied that it would only be a bad day if we let it. But that I was choosing to wipe the slate clean, and start the day from RIGHT. THEN. Forget the craptastic morning, and start over.

Well, that was easier said than done, considering that the craptastic morning did not, in fact, end with the ride to school. But it was done. Eventually.

Now, HERE'S the growth part...

It was enough not to complain about the craptastic morning. But not only did I not complain, I chose to look on the bright side. I had to look hard to FIND the bright side, but there was one.

The bed, for instance. If I had not been volunteering at the school, I would not have walked back into the bedroom at the time I did, and the cat pee would have soaked all the way down into the mattress. But it didn't.

And the dog. My poor old dog, who apparently has an intestinal parasite. She has meds now, and is getting a home cooked meal of chicken and rice, which I'm sure she'll consume with gusto. But if it weren't for the craptastic morning, I might have waited another day to take her to the vet, and she would still be suffering.

Finding the bright side of the craptastic morning. That, my friends, is growth. For me.