I’ll just come out and say that I’ve been a little blue the past day or so, though there’s been plenty to distract me (thank goodness!).
Prior to leaving for our Vero trip, we had an unfortunate situation with my car. Something happened with the gear shift that caused it to remain stuck in place, we ended up stranded out at brunch, with time ticking to make our flight, had to call an Uber, abandon my car in a random parking lot for the duration of our trip, and just…press onward.
Upon our return, we were praying hard that it would still be in that parking lot (it was!), so we could begin the insurance-assisted process of getting it towed to the service center (we had to be there in person for this process; hence my car remaining in the random parking lot while we were out of town).
Anywho.
Yesterday, we received the long list of necessary repairs from the service center (above and beyond just the gear shift issue), and I’ll just go ahead and say straight up: the total cost took my breath away. It was an incredible sucker punch.
Alas…I’m still in the processing phase. And most of you know that we’ve had really poor car luck on my front for the past few years, which compounds all the emotions.
BUT.
Since this ain’t my first rodeo with random bad news in the last four-ish years, I’ve definitely accumulated some coping tricks. And one of them is to lean really, really hard into the land of gratitude, in an attempt to counteract my sadness.
I’ve been doing this in small ways allllll day long. Out loud and in my mind. And I suspect I’ll have to keep doing this for weeks—months?—to come, before the pain of this financial impact lessens.
So.
In an attempt to fully marinate in this place of gratitude, I’ll share some of things I’ve been thankful for.
The silly and fun pudding dessert I made for the kiddos tonight…
It made me happy to give them something different, and Little Man’s reactions was priceless. “Soooooo good.” Before he destroyed the whole thing, he even asked to take a picture. Be still, my heart. ;)
These grapes! How beautiful in full bunches?!
I prefer a smaller grape and in recent weeks, they’ve been glorious. I never manage to snag a bag with full, beautiful bunches like this, and it made me smile (and dream up beauuutiful summer charcuterie ideas. If only for the pictures!). Something so small that sparked joy—and gratitude.
Our lunch today at our favorite Thai restaurant. Yuuuuum. It was a VBS reward and so delicious and warm and happy, as always:
My trickiest fig is leafing!! This one only produces new leaves like, ONCE a year. I suspect it’s probably not in the happiest light (we only have so many available spots, ha), but I just cheer it on for any signs of life, and when it shows some, I get suuuuuper excited. :)
My favorite (near-daily) coffee run brings me happiness and CAFFEINE. Yep, I’m one of those people who pays way too much money for coffee out, and it’s likely to never change, because IT BRINGS ME JOY. (Also, of note: we make a lot of coffee at home, as well. So perhaps we just intake a lot of coffee?)
The sky in San Antonio. I don’t know why (perhaps the hillier terrain??) but I notice and appreciate sunrises and sunsets soooooo much more since living here. And it grounds me in a beautiful way.
Unfortunately, we’ve had a crazy amount of haze this week due to Mexican agricultural fires and winds that have shifted things north. On the plus side, it’s kept the temperature from breaching double digits, but on the downside…haze. And poor air quality (which doesn’t help Little Man, who has a raging cough right now). Oye.
And, lastly, on the gratitude front: my Barre buddies. As I’ve mentioned on this here blog many times before, the friends I’ve made through my Barre exercise classes are equally as precious to me as the benefits to my health.
I adore so many of my feisty friends, and one of them shifted to a later evening class last night so she could meet up with me for the time I was booked, and it was such a small but big source of happiness and gratitude.
We had an instructor we love, and it was tough, as always, but as we were maintaining an impossible position for an impossible length of time and groaning and commiserating, the instructor took a video of my buddy and I to post on the studio’s social, and that camaraderie through pain—and the evidence of it!—made me smile. :)
Lastly…I’m grateful for my babies, who have been SO happy this week at VBS. Both Chica as a youth volunteer, and the younger two as participants. Every year, I expect the bloom to fall from the rose, but, nope! They’re still in it, and I’m so grateful.
Okay. Wish us luck, health wise. I was at the doctor with Little Man yesterday for his heinous cough and now the other two are showing signs of not feeling one hundred percent. Only time will tell.
More mañana, peeps.
Over and out.
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