Let’s Do 52! Patience
Week 26. Half way there. This is probably the one and only thing each week that I refuse to put off for another day because I’m afraid it won’t happen. And because my kids are growing up too fast. And if I miss even a few days I might miss something.
Patience.
This week I haven’t had a lot of it. Neither has the rest of my family.
I guess what keeps coming back to me over this last week, this last week as we celebrated our 9th anniversary, is the traditional verse read during our wedding, from the first book of Corinthians:
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
“Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)
In the last 9 years of marriage I can say that it is the lesson of being patient that I have worked hardest to learn. The military tested my patience endlessly with TDYs and a deployment. And trying to get pregnant not once but twice was the ultimate test of patience for me. I guess the fact that I’m still being tested means I haven’t quite learned the lesson yet.
You see our house was delayed. Again. It was originally supposed to be done in December. As in LAST December. And each month things got pushed further and further behind. But our June 28th date seemed pretty solid and our request (demand) to be told immediately in the event of another delay led us into a false sense of security. We got our 30 day notice in the mail. We took the pictures off our walls and started packing. The bathrooms, the kids rooms, a vast majority of our bedroom. We have boxes galore and little room to walk. All our deliveries have been scheduled and organized according to who needs to do what first. We have planned and planned and planned.
And God laughed.
So when only 6 days before our move in date, with about 90% of the kids’ toys PACKED IN BOXES we found out we’re not moving next week after all. Throw in a nice little Tropical Storm to hurl some wind and torrential rain our way. We have two very bored kids in a house that is no longer anywhere close to being baby-proof and two parents who are about ready to pull their hair out. Not because of the kids. But because we are not quite as patient as they are. And that’s sad considering they are ages 3 and 10 months.
I heard Andrew mindlessly singing. It was the kind of singing and play acting he does when he loses awareness of anyone else around him. He slips into his own imaginary world of pirates and superheroes and dinosaurs and lets his imagination carry him. I got up to see what, exactly, he was doing and he had turned the chair, chair cushion and pillows into a pirate ship and was acting as a look out. He was making the most of the situation and having a ball in the process. What a lesson to be learned! His attitude made me regroup, and once again evaluate the situation and remind myself that it could be worse, much worse. And we are all okay. We are happy. And we are ready.