I had a little surgery last week…which has led to a longer recovery time than I expected. It’s nothing to worry about, friends. It’s just not fun to be lying around while life goes on without me. Heck! I’m missing the Willie Nelson concert tonight at the Georgia Theatre…but it’s true. Things have a way of working out for good! My husband’s gonna take his daddy to the concert…which will be really nice for them. They haven’t had time like that together in a long time. The last time I saw Willie Nelson in concert, I went up to the stage at the end to get Willie’s autograph and instead… Willie reached down from the stage, picked me up, kissed me…then put me down. Then he gave me a crazy look.. you know, an ‘I gotta kiss you now!’ look. And he picked me up and kissed me again. I didn’t get his autograph…just a WET WILLIE! …kinda gross but AWESOME!

And if anyone deserves a night out, it’s my husband. Yesterday, I asked him: “How was your day, Honey?” …and I actually got out a notepad to document it. You see… while I’m recovering from the surgery, he’s doing all the things I normally do to keep our family life going + he’s doing all the things he normally does for our family business too. Here’s what he said:

I got up, tried to crank the van…but didn’t have enough gas, took the trash and recycling to the curb, then drove Rosey and Billups in the other car to school, picked up quart sized jars from the store, then went back home to pick up Kat, drove Kat to school, went to the pickle facility (our family business,) Janet (our employee) said we needed garlic, more jars, “everything!’, I labeled five cases of pickles, loaded them into the car, delivered the pickles to a store in Lilburn, then drove to Atlanta to get 50 cases of jars, then I went to pick up 2 boxes of beans, 1 box of dill weed, some blueberries, and carrots, I shoved all that in the car with the jars, then drove back to Athens. I stopped by Sam’s and picked up a container of peeled garlic and a TV, then went to the pickle facility, unloaded produce and jars, took the blueberries to the house, then grabbed an Arby’s coupon and ate at Arby’s before picking up Billups and Rosey from school, Took Billups to the YMCA, then Rosey and I went to Hilltop Grille to pick up payment for pickles, then we went back to Sam’s because I forgot vinegar, We got gas at Sam’s too, took vinegar to the pickle facility, then picked up Kat from school at 4:30, then drove out to the bank in Madison County to make a deposit, then dropped Kat off at CVS to get hair color and nail polish, then picked up Billups from the YMCA, then picked up Kat from CVS, then picked up pizza to take home.
See why I got out the notepad? Phew!

I guess what this post is about is… I am feeling grateful. On top of all that…he has also been doing all the home-cooking and playing with the kids. Last night…it was a ping pong tournament… Sunday, he made a balancing beam in our front yard for Rosey. I hope our kids know how fortunate they are to have a daddy that plays with them…especially in spite of his crazy schedule. For me…today will be another day of social media. The good things that’ve come out of this dang recovery time are that I’m appreciating my husband a lot more and he’s hopefully seeing how much I usually do for our family ….and with nothing else for me to do but network …I’ve managed to make a lot of new potential customers for our pickles!
Yes, lying around isn’t fun…but I’ve found that when I look for the silver lining, I find it! Don’t magnify the bad—instead magnify the GOOD! The more we talk about good, the larger good becomes. So friends, let’s be positive in our thoughts, moods, words, actions, and how we see others. A tiny part of my mind goes to thinking that maybe my husband’s getting tired of me being in recovery….but if I let my mind stay there…I would be depressed. Instead, I’m focusing on the good things…about how blessed I am to have a husband who has given me so much grace this past week.

Let the redeemed of The Lord say so, whom He has delivered from the hand of the adversary. ~Psalm 107:2 So…. How was your day, friends?