How Not to Lose Your Mind

Life has been busy lately- for all of us. With all the holidays, one after the other, the cooking, the cleaning, the kids- its a lot.

We had a big crowd for Yom Kippur and breaking of the fast and after the fast I was exhausted and had absolutely no energy to clean up. My dishwasher has not been working, so I figured I would rely on my Sunday cleaning help to work her magic like she does every Sunday.

Sunday morning arrived. I got the dreaded text that she was not feeling well and would not be making it in.

I honestly wanted to cry.

I had to teach Hebrew school Sunday morning and try get the house somewhat back together. Including the laundry, a zillion dishes, kids bedrooms from Shabbos and the floor was so dirty from all the foot traffic on Yom Kippur.

I was not a happy camper.

I was feeling really overwhelmed, frustrated, fed up, angry, upset and down right on the verge of a break down.

I needed to vent and it was too late on the East Coast to call my best friend or sisters to complain and feel sorry for myself, so I called my husband who was out restocking our fridge and pantry, forgetting that he's a man, and men need to fix things, not listen to complaining... so after I let it all out, he responded with, 'look on the bright side, the baby sitters coming tomorrow and  I am sure the cleaning help will feel better by tomorrow' and 'think good and it will be good'- I let the poor guy have it.

I just wanted someone to feel sorry for me, was I asking for too much?

But then something interesting happened.

My 4 year old came over to me with a book called Rina's Rainy Day and asked me to read it to her. It's a very sweet book about a little girl who has all these plans for the day, but nothing seems to go her way- and after every few pages, Rina says, 

"Gam Zu Letova, I trust this is Good, 

Hashem makes things happen the way that it should."

I then put the kids to sleep and decided to take a drive to the local drug store down the street to get some new nail polish, I have no patience for manicures, but once in a while it feels good to do your nails, so I figured, why not. I needed to get out for a bit.

As I walked through the mechanical doors, this song came on- just take a minute to listen to it, especially the chorus...

I got my pretty nail polish. 

And I held my head up.

And I realized that my dear hubby was right. 

It will all be okay. 

So the house is a wreck. It will get cleaned up tomorrow. And guess what? In a few days, it will be a wreck again. 

But as long as we cut ourselves some slack, keep our heads up and keep moving forward, it will always be okay.

So here's to a good week. And a happy Sukkos.

Always,