Silver Linings... an attempt

Those of you who follow me on Facebook or Twitter (and if you don't, why not?) know that yesterday was a horrible day for me. Now that it's behind me, I thought I'd share, and *gasp* talk a little about how I tried to find the silver lining.

Event #1: Small child wakes up with a bloody nose, putting my morning routine into chaos so I didn't get most of what I'd hoped accomplished and started out stressed.
Silver Lining: I realized bloody nose was due to dry air, which had been bothering me for a while. I wouldn't have bugged hubby about getting a humidifier, but with my kiddos suffering, I did, and he's out buying one now.

Event #2: I forgot it was my day to volunteer at small one's class. Which means I didn't bring snack. Which meant rushing to Target to buy snack before kiddos left on field trip. Car broke down in the middle of Target parking lot. I had to leave car there and walk to the school carrying snacks, laptop, purse, and other items of value and get there before the bus left.
Silver Lining: If it hadn't been my day to help out and get snacks, I'd have broken down at Panera, not realizing it until time to pick up small one from school and would have been really late, even with walking. Which would have been a mess. Plus, event #1 prevented me from working out, which was accomplished with the walk from Target to school. Trust me, I was definitely huffing and puffing on that hike.

Event #3: Unexpected field trip. Teachers planned it on the spur of the moment, so no one knew until that day. We went to a farm and got to interact with animals, which drove my allergies nuts.
Silver Lining: One of the "treats" of the day is we got to touch a coyote skin. I used this time to take a picture of the little one with it so that next time she comes to me, afraid cay-whoa-tees are going to get her, I'm going to remind her that we can kill and skin it if it comes near us.

Event #4: The computers were down at work. Bad news considering last night's class was an online web tutorial designed to last the entire class period. We ended up staying 1/2 hour late.
Silver Lining: We did eventually get online, raced through the tutorial, and learned flexibility with lesson plans.

I had a lot of other bad things happen yesterday. As one of my friends today so eloquently put it, it was like getting pebbles in my shoe. Nothing majorly traumatic, but enough to be a constant irritant. Just as I'd thought I was getting a handle on my day, something else would explode. Literally. I forgot to mention the part about my daughter dumping the drink I'd just bought her all over my backseat once we got the car running. Did I mention it landed on my class materials and books? Silver lining: I technically am done with the books since I'm now prepping them for the final.

But here's the point of all this. Yes, I was miserable. Yes, I was upset. And at one point, all I could do was sit there and say, "God, please." I forced myself to try to find the positive in each incident rather than follow my usual pattern of letting the negative drag me down. And then, once I was done with class, I called my FIL to find out the name of the wine I'd had at his house and enjoyed (called Prosecco if any of you want to know), stopped by the wine shop, went home, had a nice glass of wine and chatted with a friend. Maybe not the most exciting end to my day, but at the end of that day, no one died, no one was injured, and my broken down car ended up not costing me anything to fix. Although, I did get one piece of bad news. I want to send out a prayer request for my friend, who found out yesterday (and told me in the midst of the mess) that the cancer they thought they'd gotten rid of a year ago is back with a vengeance. They're starting chemo again on Thursday.

Perspective is an interesting thing. Still looking for the silver lining on my friend's diagnosis, but I hope, and I pray, that whatever crummy things you're dealing with today, you'll find a silver lining to boost you up and make you realize that it's not so bad after all.