Sometimes it all goes bad

Labor day weekend was the worst weekend that I have had in a long time. I am finally able to record the misery.

It began on Friday with some bad financial news. We will be fine but we have to make some big adjustments because of a miscalculation on someone else’s part. We’ll manage. But treats like Starbucks are about to become a very infrequent luxury. And we’ll adjust.

The next day, I took the girls to my parent's pool for a family party. I had just settled down in a chair to relax and chat with a friend when T (age 5) tripped and busted her chin. It was a deep cut, so off to the ER we went. Five hours and 9 stitches later, we went home.

T was amazing during it all. She laid perfectly still. It was hard to watch her hold back the tears and express such bravery. She suddenly seemed like such a big girl! So although it wasn't my plan, she and I did have a nice time together in spite of the long day at the hospital.

On Sunday I headed to Barnes and Noble with my sister. While sitting and chatting over coffee, someone stole my wallet. They took it out of my purse, which was hanging unzipped on the back of my chair. I didn’t realize it until that night when we arrived home to messages from our bank and credit card companies.

Thankfully, I am not responsible for his shopping spree, but I was devastated. The wallet had everything in it. I felt so horrible. So violated. How could someone do that?

And then I had to spend the next few days realizing how the system is set up to protect him more than it able to help me.

Did you know that Target’s corporate policy does not allow employees to request photo ID. This means that even though security interfered with the purchase, they didn’t ask for ID or call the police. The Kohl’s employee asked for ID, but then he ran. The police are not really pursuing it at all. They seemed bothered by the fact that I called to let them know that Target and Kohl’s had video surveillance. They asked me if there was a good face shot on the video.

Uh…isn’t that YOUR job to find out? Target security employees aren't going to tell me.

And the worst part???? It was a COACH wallet. A beautiful full size black zip around wallet with a light blue interior.

It was a gift. A very generous gift from a wonderful mommy friend. It will cost me $160 to replace it, which I can’t afford to do. But it is hard to go back to my other wallet after having one that was so amazingly nice.

But I’ll survive. Really. I will. And I did finally break it to my generous friend that someone stole it. We were both devastated as I relived the story. *sigh

On Monday, exhausted from the weekend, our family just stayed home. I had had enough. I was emotionally spent and physically exhausted.

That evening I sat on the floor playing with the boys. D (age 2) was showing C (2 months) his matchbox cars. D kept talking to him while he was playing. C just laid there on the ground watching.



I looked up at my husband.

"It’s been such a terrible weekend. Everything went wrong. Yet I am sitting here with these two little guys and I can’t help but feel so amazingly blessed."

Perspective found.