The Lump in my Throat

The past few days have been kind of stinky.

My cell phone went kaputz...well, technically my number did but the one little problem cause hours and hours of phone conversations with the cell-phone company. Even now, I have been issued a new cell phone number but my phone is only about 75% fixed. I no longer care about the stupid phone. I've decided to not spend more hours on the phone with them.

Then work...we had a major problem which started Thursday, spilled over into Friday and kind of blew up on Friday, and then spilled over into today's workload. It's a problem where I can do nothing right because the only option we are being given is to do what the customer (Costco) wants, which isn't possible. I hate being set up to fail from the very beginning. *Sigh* I was supposed to get off work on Friday at 2pm but didn't make it out of there until 3:30pm. I had never felt so drained...all I wanted to do was to crawl into a dark hole and fall asleep, without dreaming of Costco, who was not my favorite company at that moment.

Finally, on Saturday, I went to a wedding. Weddings are supposed to be joyous celebrations. Instead, this one broke my heart, even though it was indeed beautiful. The bride's family have been life-long family friends. Our parents met before I was born. I am smack dab in between their two first sons, whom I still consider my friends, along with their wives. Simply put, I love this family.

I remember one time, maybe in high school (?) I sent a letter to the mom (we'll call her Jane Doe) telling her how much I loved her family and that her and John were such good parents. I loved how close their family was and of course, that they all loved Jesus. Sweet, isn't it?

One summer break from college, while I was still at my parents home, I called up the oldest son and his wife to say hi and invite them over for dinner since my parents were on vacation. They proceeded to tell me his parents were getting divorced. Their news made me catch my breath in shock. Never, ever would I have guessed this. This sweet close family, that I've know my whole life...divorce...what??? As soon as I got off the phone, I started sobbing. It's been approximately 10 years since then and I still get a lump in my throat when I think about this family.

The bride was beautiful...the wedding was full of happiness...but what stood out to me was that the dad, John Doe, wasn't invited to his daughter's wedding and the oldest son and his wife didn't come either. How heartbreaking! I cried almost the whole way home. Families aren't meant to be like this.

May this next week be productive. May it include unexpected blessings. May I be a blessing to others. May there be laughter instead of tears, unless the tears come from abundant laughter.