I woke up today to Abby's morning sickness and a whole list of people to call and paperwork to fill out. I'm so happy I'm having a baby with the girl I love more than anything, but her hormones are the most unstable they are going to be the whole pregnancy and she's still working so getting mental is rough and I'm trying to make sure she has to worry about as least as possible. I'm a lucky guy, but it gets rough for sure.
Anyway, the reason I told you that is to explain something I said to her that inspired me to make my first "Food For Thought" post.
She was thinking about laying in bed and calling off work because she was feeling so bad, and after watching her for the past month I noticed when she was up moving around she felt better, and I knew she had clients that needed her to help to get serious issues figured out with their lives. So I decided to try and reach her on another level to motivate her to push through the pain. I made sure to speak to her with love and grace and said, " Sometimes we don't have the choice to be happy in the present, sometimes we just have to do what is going to make us feel fulfilled and proud of ourselves at the end of the day."
I told her she was going to feel bad either way. If she laid in bed her stomach would hurt and she would feel bad for letting her clients down, and that would make her feel defeated. If she got up her stomach would still hurt, but she would feel the joy of helping someone get their life together as well as the feeling of perseverance. Both were not "great" options for how to spend your day if you were trying to have a fun relaxing day, but only one would allow her to feel good at the end of her day.
I'm happy to say she chose the second option.
...And Guess What!!! God decided to make me put my money where my mouth was!
I got a call shortly after that conversation and I had to go help a family friend's daughters get their mom's (who just passed away today) dogs and drive them out to your mom's house so she could take care of them. I got to talk to one of the daughters and her boyfriend about how our job is to help people like them get housing and help with finding a career and foundation to start their life. Their face lit up as soon as I said that because they were living with the lady who just passed away because the girl was her granddaughter that had a kid at 14 years old and was understandably overwhelmed. I feel weird for just calling her a lady because she was like an aunt to me, she was my mom's best friend, and she was family. But it felt so Good to hug Sam and console her and inform her daughter that we could help her.
That may sound a little far-fetched but there are laws of physics and if you run off the road right where a broken part of the road is during a snow/ice storm you will probably bust your tire and your boyfriend will have to come and change a said tire. And if you are out a back road in the boondocks that boyfriend is going to have to drive 45 minutes to get his tools, and 45 minutes back to change the tire on a frozen concrete pad so the nice lady's husband can park there when he gets off work. No time to go home after a long day of work.
I didn't know when I was trying to motivate Abby that I was also motivated my future self to look at the obstacles we face as something to be done rather than something bad that is being done to us. Of course, I was irritated because I was tired and I had driven a total of probably 2 hours and fix a flat in the middle of a snowstorm, but I had to suck that up because the girl of my dreams is suffering from making a child for us to love while helping other people get their lives together for her job and she felt so bad because she knew everything I was going to have to do.
I know I know I get it, simple tire change, but it was the time it took to drive all around WV, and the conditions that made it more undesirable.
But it all worked out and it's the end of the day and I feel happy. Because I got to be there for my mom, her now deceased friend's daughter, and her daughter as well.
And then I got to be the hero and save my dream girls' day.
It's crazy because I didn't get done until after 11 pm and I didn't know what I was going to do for my daily post. Then this popped in my head. I have been wanting to start a "Food For Thought" segment but I didn't want to force it. This organic gift came at the perfect time.
Sometimes we have to buckle down and just try and do the "right" thing, and in my experience that does lead to a tough day, but it also leads to a fulfilled proud night.