Myopia

I am always nagging my clients at work to look at the big picture. They often get tunnel vision on one aspect of a site and don't see the project as a whole, which often delays progress and frequently takes things in the wrong direction. So when Rick and I were counting off all the annoying things in our life which are contributing to general malaise and continuous lack of sleep, I realized I should take my own advice and look at the big picture. It was Thanksgiving after all.

The basement flooded on Wednesday night. And we're not talking a few seeps here and there. We are talking running water from the wall window (where George Burns lives or lived, he may have been "displaced" during our cleanup efforts-I hear the sewer system is lovely this time of year). The silver lining of a having a basement that floods is that you have a basement to begin with. And that means we have a lovely house that keeps us warm and for the most part, dry. We have a house because we both are blessed with jobs we enjoy.

Bear/Bexar continues to use the house as his own personal bathroom. In fact, he seems to prefer the privacy of pooping in the house. Beyond recognizing the humor in the fact that we seem to have the only Bear that does not shit in the woods, I also recognize that because of Bexar, our family has had a faithful and loving companion for 11 years. He has lifted our moods and licked our faces for his entire life. He has always been there for us, so it's only fair that we are here to clean up an accident or give him a lift off the floor when he needs us.

With big families with big personalities like mine, there are inevitably going to be annoyances. They may be due to scheduling, personalities, a crazy pregnant lady who has violent mood swings, or just someone's in a funk and isn't feeling the holiday spirit. But I can't imagine not having them around during the holidays. Sure, we can be a scary bunch that seems to take joy in dishing out endless amounts of crap, but that's the way we roll. It's very comforting to have the endless support and understanding that a family can provide and I wouldn't change a thing.

And while I wouldn't ever categorize Super as an annoyance, the pregnancy does come with it's own set of challenges. I can't lift our wonder-mutt in and out of the car, I can't seem to get the deposits to match the withdrawals (Patrick knows what I mean), I can't booze it up with the siblings over the holidays, and I generally feel strange most of the time. But, I am thankful that my body is capable of carrying a baby and the absolute miracle of the experience. I cannot believe that by this time next year, our Super will be around 6 months old. And for those of you keeping track and waiting patiently for the Super Update, he/she is the size of a large APPLE as of yesterday! Crazy town.

So because of this timely holiday I was able check myself and realize that all these little pesky things contribute to one big, wonderful thing and for that, I am thankful.