One Stupid Little Thing

Sometimes it all comes down to one stupid little thing....


The whole boat-load of stress and difficulty of the past year has not sent me spiraling downward.  I have shed no tears, but this morning I am on the verge of meltdown over something that is, in the big picture, downright trivial.


In the past year...
*an elderly parent declined in health, was hospitalized, spent months in a nursing home and then died just as we thought she might be able to come home.
*a beloved uncle, who had no children and was closest to me, finally succumbed to cancer.  We made multiple trips to see him and to handle his affairs.
*custody of a step-grandson changed, and we have been denied visits with him as a result.
*a daughter lost custody of her son and almost fell off the edge emotionally.  We are required to supervise her weekend visits with him and have to travel twice every other weekend, five hours round-trip each time, to do pick ups and drop offs.
*the custody battle continues and we have to go to court with her....way too much drama.  I found testifying very stressful due to the hostility of her estranged husband's lawyer.  In retrospect, I should have realized that when one doesn't have logic or facts on his side, he is going to resort to intimidation.
*a teenage grandson lived with us for a few months.  We finally told him he had to move out, because he saw nothing wrong with sneaking a girl in through the basement window during the night.
*we traveled to New York City where we "rescued" a wayward granddaughter from a pimp. All the way home, I was thanking God for His mercy in allowing us to find her, but totally cognizant of the rough road ahead.
*another grandchild has recently been avoiding going to school.  Will she pass this year?
*one of our children lives in California and another just moved from Maine to Florida with her family.  Although they both are doing very well, I wish I could see them more often.  The situations already mentioned suck up so much of our time, that it is difficult to get away for visits.


So...why do I want to cry this morning?  While the teen grandson lived here, he took multiple showers a day, and could not seem to remember to use the exhaust fan or open the bathroom door when he was finished.  As a result, the paint is flaking off the ceiling over the shower stall in huge chunks.  The painter I usually hire is not available for a few weeks, so I thought I would do this small project myself.  I got up early on this lovely morning, took my 3-mile walk, had breakfast, put on my grubby paint clothes, spread out the drop cloths and went to get the paint I purchased about 3 weeks ago.


I CANNOT FIND THE PAINT!  I have searched the entire house, furnace room, garage....every place I think it might be and some places that would be ridiculous spots for me to have put it.  No luck.


I should just say, "Well, I guess that's not what I'm supposed to be doing today."  But, I am fighting back the tears.


Sometimes it all comes down to one stupid little thing.