Why is it that when you meet someone, fall in love, get married, have children and
think you have the most wonderful life, that immediately when you think everything
is perfect, stuff starts to break? As I sit here with no clean socks, lamenting the
death of my washing machine this weekend, I am kind of looking back over the
last seven years and thinking, "Geeesh, we've had a lot of stuff break." Our family
motto is "What's broke now??"
Where to start? With lawnmowers that don't run, a very special 85 Blazer that
made my husband get really skinny for awhile as he was always walking and
burning lots of calories cursing, a furnace go out, a dead dishwasher, a jammed
garbage disposal, sewer lines in our basement back up, Blazer breaking again, air
conditioning not working, Hey, Rick, the Blazer broke again? Well, you get the
idea. It's just been one thing after another. I walk very carefully in my house now
in fear that something will break just by my looking at it too long or walking by it.
See, life likes to fool us. We work our butts off, just finally start to get caught up
on bills and get that foolish notion that we might actually be able to put some
money away, then wham, I have a washer with a transmission that has gone out.
And would someone PLEASE explain to me why we have these stupid service
contracts on everything in our house, and the only thing that they never cover is
the stuff that goes wrong at my house?
I was really angry earlier today. I even kicked said washing machine in frustration,
and it really didn't make me feel any better at all. I sat here feeling sorry for myself
that I have to go to the laundromat as I cannot afford to get a new washer. As I
was dragging the clothes into the laundromat with my three children, it dawned on
me how lucky I was.
That broken washer? It was bought for me by a husband that adores me. That
broken washer? It was worn out from cleaning mudpies, spilled Cheerios and
fingerpaint off the clothes of my three beautiful, healthy children that God blessed
me with. That broken washer? I spent an hour at the laundromat playing silly
games with my babes, and laughed so much that 6 hours later, my ribs are still a
bit sore. That broken washer has shown me just how wonderful my life really is,
and how unimportant that stupid washer really is.
So, God has blessed me with many things, and somehow, I will find a way to get
a new washer. What have I learned? Things are never as bad as they seem. Rick
and I have been through some awful rough times, and somehow, we always come
out stronger. There are more important things than "stuff". Stuff can be replaced.
An hour of laughing with my children, now that is priceless. As each year passes,
things become clearer, possesions mean so much less, and laughter and love have
become oh so much more precious. So, take a moment, hug your children, kiss
your husband, call your mother, just to tell her you love her. Trust me, doing the
laundry can wait. I guarantee it. Things aren't nearly as broke as they seem
sometimes, it all just depends on how you look at it....
Jenny Wanderscheid is the 30 year old marketing guru and corporate CEO of
ChildFun, http://childfun.com, but she prefers to call herself a stay at home wife
and mother. She and her husband Rick are raising their three children in Southern
Minnesota with laughter and love.
if you have any questions or comments!