Rise and Shine Girl Blog

Warning-You may consider this to be TMI!

Those closest to me know that my escape is the bathroom. Actually, there are two different bathrooms I use.  The master bath is where I go when I need to be on the phone and don’t/can’t be bothered.  Well, that is usually wishful thinking, but it is the closest to having some moments of non-interruption.  The powder room, on the other hand, is where I usually start out my morning.  My dad, Dennis, and I remodeled it together a few years back and it is completely me.  So this morning, as usual, I started out my morning on my favorite chair, yes the porcelain throne, and then I heard a knock at the door.  “Yes” I say.  Cole’s voice, “The crickets are escaping!”

Rewind…

The end of 2012 brought a torn ACL for me which then involved surgery.  This led to the entire family altering how our household runs as my surgeon had me on crutches with no weight bearing on my left leg for 4 WEEKS!  He may have told me this during the consultation, but I honestly don’t remember hearing him state those words.  If I had, I can guarantee you  surgery would have been put on hold.  Think about it, the Christmas season is all hustle and bustle and I was far from having the hustle in my bustle!  Needless to say, I had surgery on November 30^th which put me on crutches through December 28^th!

I have to say that I said a few key words when I learned I tore my ACL and a few tears of frustration were shed, but then there was a turning point when I realized what a blessing it was.  Here is what I learned:

1.  I have the best friends and neighbors in the world.  My family had a warm cooked meal delivered every other night for about 3 weeks.  My kids were transported around and got where they needed to go, and funny and inspiring cards showed up in my mailbox and texts came across my phone.
2. My husband and kiddos are troopers.  They had to take on all aspects of taking care of the house and did it without complaint!  Well, Mia, the diva, did have her moments, but after all she is only 6 years old.  Her awesome hugs, kisses and I love yous made up for her rolling of the eyes when asked to take on more chores.
3. When verbally giving instructions to your pre-teen son on how to do the laundry, don’t forget to mention that wet clothes should not sit in the washer for more than 24 hours.  Local friends, please let me know if we smell like mildew.   I have become so accustomed to the smell that I can’t whiff it anymore!
4. There comes a time when you need to let your dog know who is boss, or at least attempt to.   Yoshi insisted to share a chair with me during my recovery.  Which leads to it may have been a good idea to hide any camera taking electronics in the house as family members apparently love to take pictures of you when you’re doped up on pain meds and the dog is using various parts of your body as a pillow.
5. When you admit out loud that you need to make a change in your life and don’t follow through, someone else may do it for you!  My friend Bronwen witnessed this with me!
6. The Christmas season doesn’t necessarily have to be all decked out, spent running from store to store, having every cookie baked, and attending every party in order for it to be the best one ever!
7. Be careful how much pain medicine you take!  Upon somewhat of an overdose I agreed to let Cole get a Bearded Dragon, which as of this morning, led to going on search for the escaped crickets and cutting short my time in the powder room!

I could continue on with the various lessons learned, but the bottom line is good can come of what you think is bad.  It is up to you to decide how to view it!

Rise and Shine!