Trials and Tribulations and Just Day by Day

   Lately I have been frustrated...the everyday stuff that just blasts through our awareness accompanied with a helpless anger and frustration.  About a month ago our water pipe just blew out--the age of it just couldn't contain it any longer, and it happened to blow on the day that I had gone to treatment (dialysis) and was coming home to help Mom make cornbread for for a water meeting our United Methodist Women was serving.  I was FURIOUS, and had a breakdown of sorts, was pretty much worthless.  Later, after I calmed down, I realized that it was a blessing that the pipe hadn't broke down in the middle of the freezing winter, it happened on some beautiful weather, and Gary's brother fixed it for us.  But that's generally what happens--the car breaks down, a mower burns up, bills come in the mail that are sickening and yet we see the good in each day.  Practicing with our daughter for softball, sharing in the beauty of the outdoors, and laughing together at the humorous side of life.  I continue to look to the positive.
   Take for example what happened the last of April in my family...my husband and I had practiced throwing the softball around with our daughter, and as it was on the day of my treatment I tired easily.  I was upstairs scrolling through Facebook when Gary came upstairs looking for a gun.  Snowden had been hunting for kittens in a ramshackle shed full of boxes of jars for canning and other junk when she found a skunk.  Luckily she wasn't sprayed, but we were concerned just the same. And my husband being the man that he is, settled on the AK74 since he hadn't shot it in a while.  I continued to play on my computer and when I heard one single shot; I was impressed that the skunk had been defeated without a hail of bullets.  Moments later my daughter came running up the stairs sobbing that "Daddy shot himself!"  After my disbelief wore off, my heart thudded in fear as I raced down the stairs looking for shoes, my throat dry and my eyes unable to focus.  When I made it out to Gary he was lying on his side, with blood all over his legs and feet.  Thankfully it wasn't a lot of blood, and he hadn't hit a major artery.  But the bone was poking out of his knee, and I knew in a heart-sinking instant that this indeed was bad. Running to get a towel to wrap around his knee I was lost, and I had no idea what to do for him. I was in shock, but I couldn't help but thank God that it was his leg, that he was still breathing and much calmer than anyone else.  The safety had been on until he reached the shed, and it wasn't until he leaned forward to look for the skunk when the gun went off without warning.  The shoulder strap most likely brushed the trigger somehow, since his finger wasn't near the trigger, and he was as surprised as Mom and Snowden were.  I thank God that Gary was so calm and steady, because it helped me to talk to the 911 dispatcher in a calm and steady manner.
   Three surgeries later, and two treatments at the dialysis center in Parsons while I stay with Gary has made me realize how truly blessed I am.  I still have my husband, whom I love more than the air I breathe, and my daughter and mother is safe as well.  Our family, church, and friend family have kept us supported in prayers and I truly feel the benefit of so many beautiful souls praying for us.  We are all faced with difficulties, some irritating and frustrating, but when faced with major difficulties we can see the gifts in life that we are given.  Gary has an amazing surgeon who managed to pin everything perfectly and save the knee joint, even if the knee cap was obliterated.  And with effort and healing, Gary will be able to put weight on his leg and walk on it.  I have faced so many fears this week, and have wanted to cry at times when Gary has faced so much pain and difficulty, but I have felt the support of so many friends, family, and professionals that I can only be optimistic of the future with Gary.  God is with us, God will continue to be with us, and as long as we look to Him for answers, we will always feel His encouragement and strength.