Day 34 - The Big Picture

Chris and I have a theory about our lives. It generally says that even our biggest problems are quite small compared to other people's problems throughout the world. That helps me keep things in perspective, but I wasn't always like that.

Many years ago I was steaming mad about the property behind us. We thought that land would never be built on which was a nice perk in buying our house. When I saw the pink plastic ribbons hanging from trees marking the lines I about blew. Rage is probably an understatement. That happened on September 10, 2001. I calmed down real fast.

But, then the war on terrorism caught up with us and Chris found himself activated and deployed. He flew to Kuwait as President Bush was giving his 48 hour ultimatum. Angry? Yes. Frightened? Incredibly.

But a lot of good came from it too. Our neighbors, co-workers, and friends were so supportive. Some days you'd see three neighbors riding around mowing our lawn simultaneously. One stormy day the tree in our front yard that held our yellow ribbon blew over and broke. Soon after, Chris' co-workers bought and replaced it with a new one. Another moment was when I needed a babysitter so I could go to the doctor for a brush with pinkeye. Chris' boss took the job and then took me out for dinner.

The best part of that deployment was bringing Maria home from the hospital 9 months to the day of Chris' return. She is a bonafide war baby.

That long 8 month deployment seems like a blink of an eye now.

So, why am I writing about all of this now? Because I had an up and down kind of day...where the little problems (like bloody noses, taking three kids to the grocery store, and not being able to get a glue bottle open) were starting to become the story for today. But, I had to push that all aside and realize...I've got it pretty darn good.