As I was sitting with my friend at the hospital yesterday I could hear a lot of patients lamenting their situations and the cruelty of life in general. It often seems like, just when things are looking up, obstacles are thrown into our paths that seem aimed at bringing us back to square one. Sometimes, after having those obstacles tossed at you for a while, it's easy to throw your hands up and quit.
The brakes went on the Go-Go Gadget Red Car and, with them, the routers. $300 later and I’m broke until the next paycheck (in exactly 7 days and counting). 24 hours ago I had been able to tuck a bit into saving and now we’re back down to $20 in the bank.
On the surface this might look like a total bummer (maybe it even extends a few feet below the surface), but think about it: How much money have I saved without rent? $300 is a small price to pay for a few months of housing. Besides, these obstacles aren’t really obstacles at all: They’re just a way to keep things interesting. How boring would life be if everything went right all the time? Now I have brand new routers and brakes that I won’t have to replace for another seven years or so. So we're still here: a little more broke but a little less screechy! Don't think twice, it's all right.
“What is this I hear of sorrow and weariness,Anger, discontent and drooping hopes?Degenerate sons and daughters,Life is too strong for you—It takes life to love Life.”-Edgar Lee Masters
Must be the season. My truck needs a new rear end. NOT good news when I may not be keeping it as soon as the right RV appears (which actually has, but I need the truck to go look at it and when I replace the rear end I won't have the $$$ I need for the RV) Ah life! and yet, it could be so much worse....
ReplyDeleteCyndi & Stumpy @ RVly Ever After
Yep, must be the season. I just had to put rear brakes on my Dodge. Ended up replacing the hub seals and both wheel cylinders too. Also that cartoon is misleading, DeSotos were good cars.
ReplyDeleteLove how positive you are! Hope everything works out, and I am glad that you were able to find something good out of this!
ReplyDeleteOh those bumps on the road! Great attitude though, just think that if you were paying rent you wouldn't have been able to change them at all. You have to go through tough situations in order to learn. Just imagine what we would be like if we never learned from any hardball we've dealt with, we would be pretty dumb I would think. These hard times are what makes us be who we are. We can tell you that what we went through these past couple of days, we would have been freaking out, crying hysterically wondering why bad things happen to us, only us. It's true and embarrassing, but we learned to get rid of our "victim" mentality and just be thankful for what we do have and what we have going right. Although different problems, we all have something we're dealing with at all times. Nobody ever told us that we should have rented an apartment together first and learn how to handle money before buying a house, and finish school. (Of course no one knew the economy was gonna blow up in our face either) but now we know, and we are stronger. Best of all we are still together. Just keep looking ahead and look at the big picture. You're going to school and one day you'll look back and have an awesome story to tell!
ReplyDeleteLove the Bob Dylan reference, and this whole blog! What an interesting concept, good luck in the car! =)
ReplyDeleteThat's a great way to look at it, Ash. Thanks for giving me a much-needed attitude adjustment this morning. Life is what it is, and when we look at the grand scheme of things, we're really doing OK. And yes, there will be awesome stories all around.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, if you were paying rent, you wouldn't have been able to get new brakes at all. :-)
Love everyones positive comments !!! I remember that old saying from childhood that went something like this ... " I once complained about not having a pair of shoes until I meet a man who had no feet." This kind of puts things into perspective !
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