You Had a Bad Day

Sometimes, life is just not on your side. It may be a bad day, or a bad month, or a bad year. But how you react to your misfortune can have a big impact on how utterly miserable you are while the universe is giving you the finger.

August has been that way for us. It was busy to start with, since we had two weddings back to back weekends and our annual canoe trip the weekend after the second wedding. We expected it to be busy, and to have to tighten our budget a bit since I had to give up three Friday night bar shifts in a row to accommodate all of our joyous plans. But busy isn’t necessarily bad. The misfortune comes later.

I had a horrible hangover all the way home from our first wedding in Suttons Bay. That one was my own fault for drinking craft beer the way my customers drink Bud Light. Then, I ran over a roofing nail and had to buy a new tire because my old one couldn’t be patched. My “one hour” tire change took three hours out of my work day. 

The second wedding was a blast, but unfortunately, we had to attend the funeral of the first wedding’s bride two days later. He was a wonderful man and a huge loss to my husband’s side of the family. I have never seen a bigger turnout for a funeral in my life. Uncle John finally fulfilled his dream of filling ever seat in his church, and it was beautiful even through a curtain of sadness. 

The canoe trip went off without a hitch for the most part. Except that Seth was so hungover that we had to skip the second day on the river, and the mosquitos were so bad that Reliant and I both look like we are diseased. The itching is still terrible almost a week later and my arms and legs are covered in literally hundreds of scabs.

Tuesday, I managed to lock myself out of my office at work first thing in the morning. Then, on my way home, my gas pedal just completely stopped working, requiring me to tow my car to the nearest dealership (joy!) for repairs. Thursday, I lost my phone and discovered an integral piece of lab equipment at work is broken, thus slowing down my timeline for project completion. Lynx got fixed on Friday, and Samara has decided it’s great fun to pee on our mattress at bedtime (she’s seriously done it FIVE TIMES). And to top things off, I woke up with a horrible sinus infection on Sunday morning. 

So all in all, we’ve had lots of emotional and physical ups and downs, our budget is blown, and our cat is a dick who is waging war on our sleep schedule. It may sound like I’m complaining, and I could definitely use a break from the excitement. But the point I’m trying to make is that I make a point to laugh and see the bright side in all of this. And because of that, I don’t come home in tears, or spitting mad. I just have a beer and sit with my hubby and laugh at our misfortune.

I’m so glad I got to witness the marriage of one of each of our cousins to wonderful caring men. I’m grateful the first bride’s father held on long enough to see his youngest daughter married to someone he thought the world of, and that he finally filled the church he was so dedicated to during his life. I enjoyed wonderful scenery both in Suttons Bay and along the Au Sable with our friends and was glad for the break from work and the excellent company both trips afforded me. I would do it again, including the bug bites. My extra long tire change allowed me time to take myself out for an extended lunch. My gas pedal broke, but at least it wasn’t my brakes. And the lack of a car on Wednesday forced me to take the day off, which allowed me to get a ton of small renovation related projects done (woot!) which is great because this sinus thing is going to sideline me again for a few days. We’ll have to tighten our belts a bit next month to make up for this month’s extra expenses, but that’s not the end of the world. I don’t really see a silver lining to the cat peeing on our bed. Nobody’s perfect.

The point is, if you can laugh instead of cry, or yell, you’ll be much happier in the long run. Your misfortunes will come and go, but the effect of your reaction on your blood pressure and mental state will last much longer. So choose laughter and always tip your tow truck driver!