My husband went out of town for a long weekend and I had the kids by myself. I don't begrudge my husband this trip. I usually travel more than he does and he really enjoys this trip. It is good for him.
Things were going along fine, other than missing him, and I decided I would take the kids out to the barn on Saturday. I am thinking he will be so happy to have the fields mowed and I will be happy to have the tack cleaned. We have done these things before and should have no problems. We get out there and realize the tractor does not have the bush hog on it, so Gabrielle cannot take care of the back field. Graham, my son, can still use the mower to take care of barn area and smaller field, so we go to Plan B and decide to get rid of the manure pile. Then the tractor will not start at all. My daughter checks, re-checks, tries again. Not happening. So we decide to shovel by hand and with 3 of us working, it shouldn't be so bad, Plan C. Things go along relatively smoothly and I am thinking, this is good. We are getting some stuff done and won't my husband be impressed that we did this by ourselves.
Right about now, those of you with any intuition are thinking... uh-ohh, something is about to go wrong, and you are right. Ever read the Proverb that says "pride goeth before the fall"? We are about to wrap up and get ready to leave, when I notice my son walking up from the back field. Did I mention that I had the whole day planned out with barn in the morning, time for lunch, Grace's ballet practice in the afterrnoon, time for a shower, a wedding reception early evening and a school benefit show that night?
My son, with all the wisdom of a 13 year old boy, decided not to mow the small back field, but the swampy trail back in the woods. (The one where he has gotten the ATV and Go-Kart stuck on multiple occasions.) The mower is stuck in deep mud. We try the wench on the ATV (after I drive back to check things out in the mini-van and the little dog breaks her collar and chases me), not working. I leave Gabrielle and Graham while I take Grace to ballet, call someone to pick her up, call a friend to help with the mower and get my husband's truck (it has a bigger wench). Truck is at the dealership getting fixed, can't use it. The tractor is strong enough... still won't start. Brother in law with his truck...out of town. Neighbor has a tractor...he's not back yet. Friend is there to help, but PT Cruisers are not much good at pulling mowers out of mud in the woods so they are really more moral support at this point. Finally the neighbor gets back and after 3 hours, multiple failed plans and many prayers of "Please, God, give me a break here!", we get the mower out.
The saga continues. I am late to the wedding reception, but things are okay, until I noticed 2 missed calls from home. Not a good sign. My daughter can't get her music on a CD for the benefit show. I race out of the reception after stuffing my cake down my throat, drive to the store for an I-tunes card, give my son the code and get home as fast as the speed limit will allow. I get home to discover my son still doesn't have the music on a CD because that computer hasn't been used for ITunes before and he can't remember the security questions and he has answered them wrong so many times, he locked out of his account. I call a friend who has to have her daughter help with passwords, finally we get the music on a CD, I drive across town and get the music to my daughter. (She sang beautifully.)
I could regale you with a much more detailed and animated version of the story, but the long and short of it is no one was hurt and I can celebrate the victory that I did not have a nervous breakdown. God can grant you the grace to focus on solutions, not problems and hold you together when everything else seems to be falling apart.
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