Sometimes it's Just Not Pretty, but it's Still Good.

Some days don't really feel the best. 

Like yesterday when I was in the same pajamas for 24 hours plus, running on two hours of sleep, moving around as though I'm 95 and smelling like mentholatum. 

For real.

I pulled my back out in my attempt at proving something to a body pump coach. Yep, that worked in my favor.

Or like last week when J & I thought we were ready to make a change with one of our cars in order to cut some money from our outgoing monthly payments....and all 3 different efforts were shut down.

Or like when we took our youngest son to dinner Saturday night and he complained THE WHOLE TIME. 

He criticized everything from the temperature of the food, to the music in the restaurant, to the construction of the tables and chairs, to the fact that a family with toddlers was seated beside us. What was intended to be a nice family dinner after church turned into a marathon effort to count down the seconds until dinner ended where he finally said, "Well, don't bring me back here again. Okay?"

Done, Son. Done.

Or finally, like when we excitedly revisited a nature preserve we have been waiting months to hike, and less than an hour in, decided it was not for us. A one-foot wide trail covered in overgrowth, Texas-sized mosquitos and thorny branches that left their marks on the backs of our legs, helped us realize that part of our hiking journey needs to be better understanding the topography of the area we are hiking and make sure we are adequately prepared for it.

So you could say it was a week of lessons learned. It could have been a week of defeat if we chose to see it that way.

Well actually, for one of us it kind of was, but I won't front myself out like that...

Being a creative type, I get wrapped up in feelings very quickly and find myself in the throes of extreme emotions.

And during my fits, my J is getting better and better at reminding me that just because we don't win at everything, doesn't necessarily mean we are losing. I don't always buy it, but deep down I know he's right.

That's what this living life part of married twice looks like sometimes. It's not always about all of the fun and the adventure. Really living life comes from facing down the hard, the difficult, the inconvenient and the disappointing and continuing to realize one incredible truth:

Life can be hard and good all at the same time.

I can be frustrated because my day was completely turned upside down by a bad back yesterday, but I can celebrate the fact that I have amazing friends who offer to pray for me, bring me things I need, and give me great advice.

I can be disappointed because we feel like we have worked so very hard to overcome the financial challenges of last year only to still be turned down when we try to make decisions that we feel would bring us progress, or I can celebrate because we now know what decisions we need to make to get what we want in the future.

I can feel beat up by those characteristics that our son possesses that sometimes feel as though he will always be "hard" to be around, or I can relish in the fact that when we pointed out the constant negativity, he quickly added in, "But thank you for taking me to dinner. I did like my chicken." 

I LOVE THAT KID. 

(I did get his permission to tell this story..he says he's not negative, he's just particular. That's true too.)

And finally, I can feel let down by the fact that a place we waited months to hike turned out to be a total bust for us or enjoy how J and I were on the same page very quickly and decided that we want to stay away from certain landscapes when we hike.

Sunday evening was spent reflecting on the week and the things that just did not work out the way we had hoped for and watching The Intern.

This fantastic movie about a successful young wife/mother/entrepreneur facing the challenges of a growing company and a struggling marriage reminded me that hard things in life do not take away from the good things in life.

The roadblocks and losses don't define our lives as bad. If anything, they highlight the good things and remind us that for every loss, there is a win if we just look for it and if we are willing to fight for it.

So, yeah...I absolutely was not the picture of pretty yesterday. But, my husband came home from work at six in the morning only to spend the next hour getting my medicine, water, and rubbing my back until I fell asleep before he even tried to go to bed. I did miss my morning workout, but I had time to slow down and read some things that I felt like the Lord wanted me to read. One of my friends offered to bring medicine to me if I needed it, another sent some scripture to encourage me and another gave some good advice as to how to recover. So all in all, it wasn't that bad of a day. 

Life is hard sometimes, but it really can be oh so very good too.