Today sucked! It felt as though nothing went right for me today. Actually things started going downhill last night. Right after watching the Celtics Heat game, I was off to bed. As I was getting into bed I heard through the monitor my oldest, Lily say “I have to go potty.” She sounded out of it, but she was sleeping for a while so I just thought she was just tired.
As soon as I went to get her out of the top bunk she told me her stomach hurt. When I got her in the bathroom she immediately threw up on me and herself. Now as a dad I have been thrown up on before and that happens as a parent. I just felt bad that she was in pain and sick. My wife Jess came into the bathroom to see what was going on. Lily asked to sleep in our bed, but I didn’t want Jess to get sick so I told Lily she and I can sleep in the guest bed. It seemed like every hour she was waking up to drink or throw up. So she and I did not get that much sleep last night.
Today as I was helping my wife get out the door for work as rain poured down outside, we saw that our screen door was just barely hanging on the door frame. She and I gave each other a look and we wondered what else was going to go wrong. Last November we just purchased a new door and screen door from Lowes which was still under “warranty.” I quickly called Lowes and told them the issue. To make a long story short, after three calls and a few managers up the food chain I eventually got them to come out and fix the door they installed seven months ago.
They told me the issue wasn’t under warranty because it was wind and it was not their problem. After not much sleep, the anger started to swell up. After three more calls and talking to manager after manager, I won the battle and didn’t have to pay.
While that was going on, I was dealing with a few other issues that I got from some emails and phone calls which needed my help right away. My girls were fighting over toys and sippy cups. I needed a Calgon moment, I just wanted a break.
So as you can see from my complaining it was not a great day for me. We all have good days. We all have bad days. Yet it is how we look at things each day that help us know how to put things in perspective. After a long day, Jess and I were finishing up giving the girls a bath. While I was helping Lily get ready for bed, she said to me “Daddy, thank you for taking care of me today and I am sorry I threw up on you.” All of a sudden everything that went on today vanished. I was now dealing with a clean slate again. I told her that she never has to thank me for taking care of her and I will always do my best to make sure I take care of her and Jordan.
As I helped her into bed I thought about how certain things that may seem big at the time really are not. I will remember a lesson that I learned in April from my friend Tommy Riles. You should always try to put things in perspective. If you are having a “bad” day and think the world is against you, take a listen to the Life of Dad podcast, episode two. You can hear Tommy talk about the fight his daughter gave to keep on living and how she was not even a day old and was fighting for her life. I know as parents we are supposed to be role models for our kids, but sometimes our kids are role models for us.
I have say thanks to my daughter Lily and Tom’s daughter Barbara for teaching me a life lesson that I should have applied earlier in the day. Broken screen doors and urgent emails are not something to hold on to in anger. Yet I should take things in stride and focus on what really is important and not to sweat the small stuff.