Just What I Needed

This morning was not one of my finer moments. It was actually one of my worst. And it left me feeling sick inside.

We have been having rain since last Wednesday. It stayed away Sunday, but it has rained all afternoon today. The genius who laid out our subdivision decided to direct all drainage to the back of our yard and supposedly out into a field...that is higher than our subdivision. It works exactly how you'd expect. So, dump 6 inches of rain in a neighborhood, that all drains to my laterals to my septic, and guess what you get!? A full septic tank.

A tank that's been virtually full since Saturday. We called the home warranty company. We would have to shell out an extra $100 of our money to pay for it to be pumped on the weekend. Since we are tightwads, we decided it could wait.

This morning I hit my wall on waiting. Studmuffin took a shower. I haven't showered since Saturday morning. Lovely. The girls tried to flush the toilet. It didn't go down. Surprise. At least it wasn't backed up in my tub, like I've been fearing. Anyway, I went totally postal on Studmuffin. I yelled at him like a shrew for not turning the water on, getting wet, turning it off, soaping down, then turning it back on. He let me rant and rave, and then said, "Do you feel better now?" I swear, if I'd have been holding a skillet or rolling pin I'd have smacked him in the head.

Hard.

I told the girls as soon as I woke them up, "I'm in a terrible mood, so just do as I say this morning." What a beautiful way to begin their day. Of course, I still yelled at them at some point. We had to run water in bowls to wash faces and brush teeth, and spit in, then I'd carry it out and dump it. Same with any dish water. Or leftover drink. Or whatever....Anyhoo, I seriously lost my temper.

Yuck.

I hate being a harpy. I apologized to Studmuffin before he left. He is always kind and accepting of my apologies. I asked the girls forgiveness, and as we said our prayers on the way to school, I asked God to give them a fresh start as they headed out the door. But I still felt sick.

They came and drained my septic this morning. He drained it, and it filled up again from my laterals dumping back in it. So he drained it again. And it's been raining all afternoon....I hope it doesn't fill the darn thing up again. The warranty only allows one emptying a year...

Studmuffin called me at noon. He thanked me for being such a wonderful wife.

WHAT?????

It seems he was in Walmart behind a couple. The woman nagged and griped at her husband nonstop. He said it was so awful, and he kept thinking he was so glad I don't do that to him.

*sigh* He's so kind. We ended up laughing as he imitated the lady nagging her husband on everything from not buying a magazine she wanted to how much he spent on bullets. He kept switching into an old lady nagging voice, and we were both laughing together. It helped me feel better about my monstrous attitude this morning.

But I still felt a little sick at my stomach. You know the knot that just sits there and makes you uneasy. Your shoulders tense up. Then your neck. Then comes the splitting headache.

I was at headache point as I was leaving the store for my grocery shopping. There was a woman sitting outside selling things. It was pouring down rain. She was huddled as close to the building as she could with plastic bags over her shopping cart to keep her goods dry. I offered to get her a hot drink. She said she just had a hot chocolate and spilled it all over her, then laughed as she showed me her stain on her skirt. I chuckled with her, then said "Have a nice day" and headed to go get the girls.

After I picked them up, I told them about the lady in the rain. She looked like Aunt Jemima, complete with head scarf, except she had on a navy sweatshirt, but she was wearing a calico print skirt and tennis shoes. We decided to go to McDonald's and get her a new hot cocoa and cheeseburger. It was still pouring rain when I pulled back up to the door of Walmart. I said, "I know you said you didn't need anything, but you looked cold. So here's some food and cocoa." Her face lit up, and she gave me the most beautiful smile. "Bless you, precious child."

Then she gave me the biggest warmest hug. I almost cried. It felt so good. It was the perfect "mama" hug. All soft and warm and generous and squooshy. Perfect. I smiled at her, and said goodbye.

As I was dashing back to my car I heard her saying "Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord."

And the sick feeling went away.

And I felt joy.

So, God allowed me to be blessed with a wonderful lady today who gave me a wonderful hug just when I needed it most.

Praise the Lord.

Psalm 103:8-18

The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;
he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.
As for man, his days are like grass,
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.
But from everlasting to everlasting
the LORD's love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children's children-
with those who keep his covenant
and remember to obey his precepts.