Bad Days

“You have to remember that the hard days are what make you stronger. The bad days make you realize what a good day is. If you never had any bad days, you would never have that sense of accomplishment!” ~ Aly Raisman

“I actually had someone say to me, ‘Lynn, you’re going to have very good days, and you’re going to have very bad days. But it’s rare that things are as good as they look, and it’s rare that things are as bad as they seem.’ So having perspective, and challenging perspective, is important to making good decisions.” ~ Lynn Good

“I still have my bad days when I think I’m not getting everything I deserve. But those pass quickly once my Mother gets on the phone and says, ‘listen, we used to eat rocks and walk 80 miles a day to school.” ~ Bonnie Hunt

Well, living in the country can be so idyllic, until your septic overflows, or you have car problems 21 miles from the nearest town, or when the well pump stops working. The latter happened to us this morning. Granted the advantages of living with glorious vistas, and lots of wonderful wildlife out weigh the disadvantages thousands to one, or two or three. But it isn’t until we lose some of the things we take for granted that we get a chance to appreciate all the wonderful amenities of our Western life.

It was the middle of the night that I realized we didn’t have running water, and, of course, it happened while my mother and father-in-law are visiting. When one thing goes wrong, it seems like dominoes tumbling down. First the well company was so busy they can’t come until tomorrow, then my sister called. Okay, that was a good call, and then my friend called with a serious issue, and while I was talking to her trying to help her work her stuff out, I got another call from a neighbor, just as my husband was trying to tell me that he and his dad were going to get water. Whew! That kind of thing can make me feel extremely stressed. But the conversation with my friend put all that was happening to us into perspective.

We all have days when things don’t go the way we planned. And whether it’s a bad day, or an opportunity to have a spontaneous adventure, is all a matter of our attitude. Okay, so we temporarily have no running water, but that can and will be fixed. My sister gave me exciting news, I was able to help my friend, and our neighbor wanted to give us tomatoes. I love tomatoes!

When I sat down to write this post and began looking for quotes to begin it, I laughed out loud at the quote by Bonnie Hunt. Moms can almost always put what’s happening to us into perspective. (My mother-in-law said, “This is like camping!”) It’s true, we get spoiled and need a reminder that those who came before us, or those who live in a different part of the world have a much more difficult life than we do. I don’t ever want to forget that. I want to be grateful for all the blessings of my life, as well as do what I can for those who don’t have many blessings at all.

But, hopefully, the well will be fixed tomorrow.

Thanks for reading, sharing, liking and commenting. I appreciate it.

Lucinda Sage-Midgorden © 2017

Lucinda is the author of The Space Between Time, a historical, time-travel, magical realism, women’s novel. It’s available in all ebook formats at Smashwords, and print-on-demand at Amazon and other fine book sellers. To join her email list, click here. She will never sell the names on her list.