Well, THAT Sucked ... A Week of Disappointments

How awesome would it be if life was made of sunshine and rainbows? Pretty awesome, at least I think so. Not that I would know, because LIFE IS NOT LIKE THAT. And this week was one such example.

Over the weekend, I took a vacation with some girlfriends to Las Vegas. We had a great time. Upon arriving home, I sat my bags down on the kitchen floor and took a seat at the table to talk about my trip. Grant listened, and so did my kitty, Abercrombie.

After looking at pictures and telling stories, it was time to open my mail. I saw a letter from my college and though Super! It must be the letter giving me the okay to come pick up my diploma!

Nope.

It was a letter to inform me that, after an audit of my course history, I need 7 more credits to qualify for my AA.

Dang. What a letdown, after going through the ceremony and buying photos. After telling everyone I has a college graduate. After my mother was moved to tears with pride. All of that, for nothing. Boy, did that hurt.

I wanted to sit outside and get away from the stress for a minute, but you know what was out there? My fledging garden, which had been eaten to death by pests. So there I was, with no degree and no garden.

Surely, this must be a mistake, I thought. But upon review of my course history, I was ashamed to discover that the college was right. I was missing 7 credits. I misunderstood the graduation report. How embarrassing.

So, back to community college I go, for one more semester. Not sure how we are going to make it all work, but we have to. And then, at long last, I will be able to attend the university.

I hadn't felt so down in a long time. But having talked the situation over, Grant and I are optimistic about our future. Things are going to be okay.

Have you ever left a movie theater in the middle of the day? No matter how cloudy it is outside, it is always much brighter outside than it is inside. Upon stepping out into even the cloudiest of days, we have to cover our eyes because it seems so bright in comparison to a dark theater. And life is sort of like that. It is hard to appreciate how bright things are until you have emerged from some darkness.

Readers, try to keep things in perspective today. Remember that feeling of stepping into the light.

The Things We Keep

My darling Grant likes to label people by the things they keep. Now, the wording of that makes him sound judgmental or something, and that isn't what I am trying to get at. Here, let me explain...
I am a worryer, and I worry and stress about all kinds of things. When I am sleeping, I often wake up before dawn and am unable to get back to sleep because I am stressing about work, school, whatever. This issue (or, rather, its negative effect on my sleep schedule) is a concern for us, and Grant has taken to calling me "the keeper of the stress."
Then, there is my cat, Abercrombie. She has lots of beautiful, soft, long fur. Her appearance is really quite extraordinary. Grant likes to call her "the keeper of the long hair." LOL
This habit of his has me thinking... what are the things we "keep," the things that define us? Can we be defined by mostly good things, or are our traits and habits mostly negative? I think we would all much rather be the keepers of the humor, or the tasty cookies, or the beautiful prose than to be the keepers of the smoker's cough, or the anger, or, perhaps worst of all, the keepers of the old, dusty baggage from the past.
I think we would all do well to remember the things we are keeping. Let's all take a moment to unpack the negative to leave room for all the great things we could be keeping!