Two Things I Learned This Week

Why hello! My name is Melissa, and occasionally when I find time I actually stop by on here and write! I know, sounds crazy right? I’ve wanted to write and share so many things lately, but I’ve just been so tired I find myself falling asleep while browsing on the computer, and haven’t been able to stay up and actually write a post for a few days now.

This past week has been a never ending circle of ups and downs and between trying to juggle work, the house, and the kids’ schedules – I was beat! I finally sat down last night before promptly falling asleep on the couch (oops!) and briefly reflected on the week's events - happy it was over. While I was thinking about all of the events that occurred over the past few days I realized two important things:

1. Always have extra money stashed away for emergencies. Monday our refrigerator broke. We had already repaired it once a couple of years ago and this time there was no going back. So the search began to find something that was decent in our price range, which was no easy task. It amazes me how much nice refrigerators cost! $2000, even $3000? Yikes. I shopped around in stores and narrowed it down, then went online and found extra discount codes to plug in to bring the price down more, and then had it shipped to us. Needless to say we lived out of camping coolers all week, and thankfully finally got our new fridge delivered yesterday.

   

    If that wasn’t enough, my Expedition decided it was going to act up and not going to run well on Wednesday. Not knowing how long it would take (or how much it would cost to fix it) we really had no other option than to get a rental car for the week so we could get everyone to work, school, and games. Luckily we got the car fixed and brought it back last night and it was cheaper than we anticipated, but everything happening at once really reminded me of how much I need to start setting even more away into our savings account so we don’t have to rely on borrowing for these kinds of things. Now that our savings is drained it’s time to start cracking down on that one. ;)

    2. You really should just always say what you feel. If you are going to miss someone, tell them. If you like them; let them know. It may just change their day. The kid’s pediatrician that we’ve had for the past 7 years or so recently informed us that she would no longer be practicing; I can only imagine that she is retiring from the center she works at – and I was pretty sad. There are some people in life that you just connect with and trust, and she was definitely one of those people. She helped us so much a few years ago when Anika was having problems in school. She has truly cared for her patients and my kids love her. 
     
I brought Anika in to see her yesterday, so she could do her checkup one last time and let Anika know that she would be having a new physician from now on. At the end of the exam her pediatrician did something that surprised me, and went over to Anika and gave her a big hug, then turned around and gave me a big hug and said she was going to miss us. As she turned to leave the room Anika said, “I’m going to miss you too. You’re the best doctor I’ve ever met.”  A big smile slowly crept over her face, and it was apparent she was trying not to cry. She replied,“Anika, you just made my day. Thank you. You are one of the best patients ever, and I know you are going to go far.” By this point I was trying not to cry.  I hate change. It’s hard. Especially when there are goodbyes involved. 

    Anika could have not said what she felt, like so many of us would have done, but then she wouldn’t have brought that smile on her pediatrician’s face; at the end of one of her last days practicing there. I know neither of us will forget that goodbye.

    And that my friends is what I took away from my week. I need to reflect more often, and let these moments sink in more. Sometimes in the moment there are so many emotions rolling around that it’s hard to take a step back and learn a lesson from what life is throwing your way.

    Do you reflect on your week? Perhaps you do it daily, or monthly? Do you write your reflections down or file them in your brain?     

     

     ~Melissa