Rebirth

I looked outside this morning and saw my crocuses were blooming. I put on jeans and sweatshirt and went outside to clear the dead plant material left over from last year. The sedum had little buds poking out of the brown earth. The lillies and irises were were popping out as well. The baptisa and bachelor buttons were poking out. The hyacinth, tulips, and daffodils won't be far behind. It is spring in Wisconsin. It is time for rebirth and renewal. Lord knows our family can use it.

It has been quite a craptastic week for our family. Actually, it has been quite a craptastic month. Things got horrid on February 12th and have been getting worse ever since. Shall we review? February 12th my dad experienced the worst day of his life and I felt absolutely helpless. Since then, Joe has been in three accidents. One with Payton in the car. The worst of the accidents happened on March 12th (four weeks to day of my dad's accident) and his car was totaled. It had been out of the shop after being repaired from the last accident for 1 day.

Everything seemed to snowball from there. My aunt, who is more like a second mother, lost her dog. She was 12 and lived an amazing life but it is still sad. We found out my uncle will be undergoing procedures to become a woman. My aunt and uncle are ending their 22 year marriage. My brother's father in law died. He was on vacation is FL and had a massive heart attack. It was completely unexpected. He was in his early 60's and left behind a wife, son, and daughter. Then my brother found out some very upsetting news about his wife and is considering leaving her. He is lost and confused and doesn't know if he can handle this. He is my only brother and I ache for him. Joe's grandma was admitted to the hospital. She wasn't eating and was very weak. They thought it was time to move her to a nursing home. Simply craptastic. What else could possibly go wrong?

Thankfully, things are looking up. Joe's grandma has made a strong recovery and our fears that she may need to move to a nursing home have been wiped away. Joe found a car he likes and it looks like we will be able to pay cash for it. It wasn't exactly what I wanted to do with our tax return but I don't want to go from one car payment to two. My brother is coping. We spent the day together and the kids really took his mind off of his situation. After much soul searching, I decided that yes, I will be able to accept my uncle as a women. He will still be the same person, he will just be a different gender. My only fear is the divorce will pull him away from the family and we won't see him again. I hope with all my heart that doesn't happen.

Please send your good thoughts our way. I am afraid to answer the phone for fear of what bad news might find it's way into our life.