Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Lamentations and Realizations

There are days when being single doesn't bother me a bit. Then there are days when being single is the pits. These days vary in their cause, but periodically they do rear their ugly head. Last night was one of those times.

One of the sweet families at my church had invited me over for dinner after work and I had a lovely time. I am so blessed to have a church family that truly is a family that watches out for each other - especially those of us flying solo. When I headed home around 10:30 or so, I was in the happiest of moods. Life is good, God is great, all is right with the world. Then I stepped into my house.

As I walked into my laundry room from the garage, it looked like someone had set off a dirt bomb laced with a water balloon in there. I immediately looked to see if any pipes had burst or if my water heater wasn't functional, but all was well in those areas. It appeared from first look that the sewer had backed up in the drain in my laundry room. Yuck. My first instinct was to cry. I hadn't been home all day and was ready to come home and go to bed. Before I got too far into diagnosing the problem, I decided to call my Dad. I'm so thankful for my Dad when these boy jobs pop up. Unfortunately he was asleep so my Stepmom walked me through the drill of things to check. We both decided I was safe from "Sewer Backup: The Sequel" during the night, so I told her I'd clean up the mess and she said Dad would check it out in the morning.

Three hours later I finally finished. House cleaning isn't on the top of my "fun things to do at midnight" list and cleaning up sewer muck tops the "things I abhor" list. As I plopped into bed at 3am, knowing I had to get up in about 3.5 hours or so, I wanted to just lament over my poor state. If I had a husband, he could have helped me clean up the mess that made my stomach turn. When it comes to house repair and maintenance, I stink at that, (pun intended) so maybe if I had a husband, even if he couldn't do the fixin', he could at least handle it....or be able to move the washer and dryer around easier so I could clean under them

Then, before I fell too far into the pity party, I was reminded (most likely by the Holy Spirit) of what I should be grateful for. If this had happened last week in the midst of company meetings, this situation would have added stress to an already busy week. Nothing was damaged (at least that I can tell) and the water and mucky yuck never made it passed the middle of the laundry room. And, my Dad is my hero and came down to my house this morning to check things out. After some investigation, he found out that my neighbor had a plugged up sewer yesterday but, in the words of the neighbor, "It finally broke loose" - yep...right into my laundry room. Nonetheless my Dad determined the problem to alleviate my worry and was able to move the washer and dryer completely to clean where I couldn't.

So many times we say "How good and faithful is our God" when things are going great. I sure did. But I was reminded after that episode to be quick to praise Him for His goodness and faithfulness in the midst of the muck of life.

9 comments:

Lisa said...

That's horrible! I'm so sorry you had to come home to find that mess, especially when all you want to do is crawl into bed. Hooray for Dad's and others like them who come to our aid. :)

bcl said...

Definitely grateful for Dads :). Without mine I would've been lost in Louisville for hours several times! We joke that I had to call all the way to Florida to find my way through Louisville back to campus :). I'd probably still be lost somewhere without him :).

Amy said...

Rose, I love you. I'm sorry about your mess. I would come to your house in the middle of the night to help you anytime you need me. Sewer muck is not my favorite thing...but when you share those times with friends, they make for funny stories later. :)

Grace, Hope and Joy said...

Hi Rose. Sounds like a mess. So sorry to hear. My hubby is great but both of our Dad's still bail us out of many a mess. What would we do without them? = )

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear about the yucky, but blessed to hear your perspective. Thanks for sharing. I didn't even know you had a blog, but I stumbled across it through another one I occasionally read. Glad to have found it!

The M Family said...

thanks for sharing and being honest rose!

Anonymous said...

I feel bad that you had that kind of trouble and your NOK didn't even know about it. You think the spider senses should have gone off :) Glad all is well again at the estate!

Alisa said...

My dear Rosie. I'm sorry to hear about the mess. I'm so glad you have your dad. Nothing comforts like a Daddy.

Erin Nicole said...

so awesome to have fathers -- both earthly and heavenly watching out for us. :) i call mine all the time. hope the ick doesn't come back!