This Too Shall Pass

Sure, there are times when you have some pretty major, heavy-duty stuff going on in life. But other times it’s just little things that dim your joy and it’s not always the severity of the problem that dictates how much it affects you. It just seems that some days we’re better able to handle stress than others. At least that’s how it is with me. Maybe other people are made of sterner stuff.

I read a devotional recently entitled, “This too shall pass.” And before that, a friend having problems with skin cancer told me that “This too shall pass” is her favorite verse. And even before that, there’s Jess, who seems to excel at standing fast, and letting the problems of life flow around him, hanging on to that same “This too shall pass” attitude.

I’m afraid I’m not so good at it. Of course, days when the pain levels are down and I feel more energetic, I’m generally better able to handle the stress. But other days, even though the sun may be shining and things aren’t that bad, well, I’m still sad.

Like today.

It’s little things. Like ordering tickets for the New River train ride clear back in April, so we could get just what we wanted in October. And what did we want? To ride in a domed car, because you’re higher up, and can see so much better with the dome instead of just a window to peer through. They didn’t have any domed cars when we ordered our tickets, but I figured if they got one, they’d let us know like they did before.

I figured wrong. Yeah, I know, as usual.

Turns out they got not one, not two, but THREE domed cars and never bothered to call us. People who bought their tickets later get to ride the domed cars. Essentially, we were penalized because we bought our tickets early to make sure we… ha, ha…. Got what we wanted.

Okay, not the end of the world. Aggravating. but (after I finished crying) move on. It’s not going to matter that much because my cameras aren’t working well anyway. The newer one is totally unusable and needs sent off to be fixed. At first all I can find were places like Sony that charge a flat $175 or so for repairs. When I finally found some place cheaper, it was too late to send it off and get it back before we left. So I haven’t bothered. That seems to be my prevailing mantra these days, “Why bother?”

My older camera has trouble locking in the focus. Most pictures are blurry. I delete 75-80% of the pictures I take lately, so like I said, I probably won’t worry much about taking pictures on this trip.

Then yesterday we were without internet service all day. At first it was a problem with the provider. But later when I checked they’d fixed their glitch, and tech support helped me pinpoint the problem on my end. The router died, which means I had to buy a new one. Another expense.

Our refrigerator is slowly dying. I’ve been looking at new ones that at least have some of the same features, but it’s not cheap. I’d love to have a new upright energy-saver freezer too. Also not cheap. But rummaging around in our old chest freezer is very difficult for me, so I don’t make much use of it.

I’ve been working on changing out our wardrobes from warm weather stuff to cold weather stuff. I don’t suppose most guys have a clue how much work that is. Just one day they open the closet or dresser drawers, and look! There’s a whole different set of clothes.

But women know you have to take the old clothes, sort them, and make sure they’re clean before you put them away. Our clothes go in bins in the basement. That means running up and down steps. Sometimes I have trouble walking on level floors, so steps can be a real trial.

And of course, next season’s clothes have to come OUT of the bins first, and somehow, they still smell kind of musty, so they need washed too. And laundry isn’t easy for me. All that pulling heavy wet clothes up out of the washing machine, or bending down to get stuff out of a dryer, and then worst of all, folding or ironing things. Those movements really aggravate the thoracic neuralgia.

Then after conceding I couldn’t win the 90DC, I’ve hardly looked at blogs this last week. The house needs attention in the worst way. I’m trying to get stuff ready for a trip. The electric buckets for water outside need hooked up. I still need to fill out the disability paperwork. I need to make some motel reservations for the second part of this trip. There are always on-going chores. What do I do first? Why bother?

And this morning the nurse from the orthopedic clinic called to let us know she finally mailed the packet of information about knee replacement surgery to Jess. She asked if I had any questions. Now that you mention it…. I had quite a few.

Over the last few days and while talking with her it’s been slowly sinking in that while Jess may be the one having surgery, I’m not off the hook. This is going to affect me a great deal also. Just driving back and forth will be difficult. It’s not likely Jonathan’s work schedule will work out so I can ride back and forth with him. Then I’ll be home nurse for a while. One knee surgery is a major deal. He's having two. It's going to take Jess a while to recuperate.

And I already can’t keep up with stuff that needs done.

Well, I’m sure there are people with a lot worse problems than mine. So why bother? No worries. This too shall pass. Rah, rah, siss-boom-bah. Yeah, right.

I’m still sad.