School started yesterday. All of my plans and schemes for a morning routine and to get out the door on time -- blah, blah, blah. And God said, "Ha!" We were to leave at 7:45 a.m. At 7:45 it is raining in sheets. Our family owns one umbrella. Is it anywhere to be found? I searched the top 3 places and then just decided to grab my raincoat and the kids could drip. 7:50 -- finally in the car. Ashley was doing something for me and set her lunchbox down. She returns to the house to get her lunchbox while the neighbors' cat wanders into the garage. In putting my raincoat into the passenger seat, I knocked my keys off of the console where they had been sitting. Can't find them ANYWHERE. I heard them 'thunk', know they are still in the car, but can't see them. 7:55 -- return to the house for a flashlight to search for keys while Ashley tries to wrestle and bribe the cat out of the garage. Cat seeks shelter under my car. 8:00 -- keys are located, cat still in garage, Sarah stroking out in driver's seat. And we're off. (No, I didn't run over the cat in the process, but did lock him in a pitch-black garage for a few hours).
We weren't late, but drop offs at schools are just a nightmare. If a principal takes a very pro-active stance in directing traffic, sometimes it's not TOO awful, but I haven't seen any Abilene principals willing to do that (and I can't really blame them). And I admit that nothing brings out my need for other people to conform to MY way of thinking like school pick-up and drop-off. If we would all do it my way -- considerate of other drivers as well as concerned for the children's safety -- well, I don't know if it would go any better, but I would be happier and that should be what this world is based on, right?
Then I started my job. So far, so good. Lots of training and new acronyms. Whatever. My favorite office orientation statement was, "Undergarments should be discreet but not absent." As my director says, "You can laugh, but all of these originated with someone!" Oh -- for anyone I have failed to officially inform, I am working part-time for Big Brothers Big Sisters of West Central Texas. That's about all I can tell you now -- until I've figured out what it is I'm actually doing.
Tonight I have a lah-dee-dah dinner for Troy's work. Actually it's more of a ho-hum dinner. The lah-dee-dah one(s) is in February. It just calls to mind where he and I were last year at this time. I remember that as we dressed for this dinner we were calmly discussing whether or not our marriage was even worth the hassle of working on it (we had been working on it for some months at that point). Our basic concensus was that it may or may not be worth it, but a divorce is just so nasty and costly maybe we could work it out. Truly, that's all we could come up with. God has done so much and healed so much in both of us. I am so thankful for His mighty hand in my little bitty, generally ungrateful life. Thank you, Lord, for your faithfulness when we thought we would drown. Thank you, Troy, for fighting for our family. I am blessed many times over.
