Counting the Blessings (Even If I Don't Want To)

So, as I mentioned in my last post, the sickness has been running rampant in our household for the past two weeks.  It started with me catching this vicious virus that was like a sinus infection/head cold/flu thingy and it was TERRIBLE.  I hadn't been that sick in a VERY long time.  I ran a high fever and was literally useless.  Then my poor baby girl caught it!  Finally I get over it and she gets over it and not even a full two days later my oldest get s a stomach virus that was intense!  The poor kid threw up for days!  He is still not back up to 100%, but at least the puking stopped.  Then my baby caught that too!  Luckily she only had it for 24 hours...Thank you Heavenly Father.  So, you might be wondering why I am telling you all these disgusting details...really I do have a point to all of this.

On Monday we had been vomit free for 24 hours, so I decided that we would make it to the gym so that I could meet with my trainer and get a good workout in.  I hadn't been able to work out for over a week and a half and I was dying to get there.  Well, everything was going dandy.  We loaded into the car and off we went.  Then, my oldest started puking all over the car!  First of all, I really don't handle people throwing up.  It usually leads to me throwing up.  Well, after I convinced my stomach that it should really hold on to the breakfast I gave it and I opened the windows because the smell was beyond gross, I turned the car around.  I will admit I was MAD.  I was frustrated and irritated beyond belief!  I was mad that he hadn't said anything about feeling sick, even though I had asked him how he was feeling at least a dozen times that morning.  Each time he answered, "I'm good."  Well, apparently "good" is another term for "I am going to blow chunks all over the car".  I was also frustrated because I was missing an appointment.  I HATE missing appointments.  It is one of the biggest pet peeves I have and it was happening and there was nothing I could do about it.  When I got home I yelled at Alex (I know, really nice and compassionate Mom right?!?) to get in the house and to take a shower.  Once he was in the shower I calmed down long enough to get the baby situated with some toys and bribed (oh yes, bribed, with money) my middle child to play with her long enough so that I could figure out how to clean the car.  Alex got out of the shower and into his pajamas and I went out to the car armed with Clorox wipes, paper towels, a plastic bag, Lysol, Febreeze, a bucket of water with a towel...and any other cleaning supply I could get my hands on.  Like I said, I don't do throw up.    Well, as I was trying to figure out how I was going to do this and why this was happening to me and all these other unpleasant thoughts I started to think about what would happen if I posted what was going on in my life at this moment on Facebook.  Yes, I am that much into Facebook that I think of such things.  Then the thoughts of what the comments would be started to flow...this is how it looked in my mind...

Me: Cleaning up puke out of the car...not how I wanted to spend my Monday morning...kids!
Comment 1: Eww, I can sympathize
Comment 2: TMI
Comment 3: Poor kiddo, hope he feels better soon
Comment 4: Oh, I remember those days
Comment 5: It could be worse
Comment 6: Try to look at the bright side
etc, etc, etc...you see where I am going with this right?

So, here is what I started thinking.  People will want me to be thankful for what I have and probably make me feel like a really crappy mom for not being grateful and more nurturing, so fine, I will count my blessings...all of them...no matter how tongue and cheek they may be...here it goes.

*I am  thankful that I have a son (even if he does puke all over the car)
*I am thankful that I have a Chrysler Town and Country with Stow and Go seats so that I can fold the seats into the floor and wipe the disgusting puke off of the van that went between the seat and the window.
*I am thankful for cleaning supplies
*I am thankful to be able to afford good cleaning supplies
*I am thankful it is not raining even though it is 90 degrees and humid as heck!
*I am thankful for paper towels because man this is gross!
*I am thankful for the goldfish crackers crammed between the seats as it means that my kids get enough to eat that there are still some left to leave on the floor.
*I am thankful for the bee that came and chased me out of the van as I am now very well aware that my heart is beating
*I am thankful for the chihuahuas that my neighbors insist on letting roam free, without their barking at me I would be quite lonely out here.
*I am thankful for the trees that are literally pollinating on my head, without them I may question whether or not allergy season is a real thing.
*I am thankful for a washing machine as I would really not like to wash these towels by hand.
*I am thankful for having kids that kept me from eating a decent sized breakfast, had I eaten more, I am sure it would have come up by now.
*I am thankful for being young so that I can climb all over my van and sit in really awkward positions just to get the last bit of gunk out of that cup holder that is in the weirdest place.
*I am thankful that thoughts are only heard by me and my Heavenly Father, cause right now, they aren't the nicest things.
*I am thankful that Eric has come out for the third time asking fir a various food item, without that I may have wondered if he was still doing his job of watching his sister.
*I am thankful that carseats are easier to wash as kids get older.
*I am thankful that I have a lot of hair on my head, so that when I pull it out by the handfuls, nobody really notices.
*I am thankful for text messaging, without it my trainer would hear me crying over a pile of puke and realize that I am a highly emotional woman.
*I am thankful for a home, if I didn't have one I would have to be stuck inside a cardboard bow with three kids for the 5th day in a row, and that would be unbearable.
*I am thankful for second chances, as I know I need them a whole lot.
*I am just thankful.

I must admit, after saying these things to myself for over 30 minutes, I wasn't near as cranky as I went in the house.  I apologized to Alex for yelling at him.  I paid Eric for his job mostly done, I scooped up the baby and calmed her down as she was sure I had abandoned her.  I turned on the tv and sat and watched Phineas and Ferb with my kids.  Not once did I think about what I should have been doing, or could have been doing.  It was too late, and there was nothing I could do to change what had happened, so I sat back, ate a piece of chocolate and endured it.  No, I am not the perfect Mom, and most of the time I don't think I am even a very good Mom.  But this time, I am not sorry for a single thing I felt that morning.  I needed to feel those things and I needed to experience it.  I NEVER want to repeat such a series of events, but I will never regret it.