[Full disclosure: I say two swear words in this post... not my most professional, I know... and um, apologies to my mom-in-law :) ]
This past Saturday, while driving with our littles to our youngest’s hockey game an hour away, a buck came charging out of the ditch straight for our SUV. Had my husband so much as touched the brake, it would have slammed right into us into the door where our youngest was sitting. Thankfully, it ran right behind our car just as soon as we passed. It missed us by a hair.
As soon as that happened, I looked at my husband and said: “I feel like that is kind of symbolic of our life right now…”.
When did this “butt-kicking” start?
I think this “phase” started with our current harvest from hell. Here we are in mid-November and 30% of our crop is still sitting in the field. We are certainly not alone in this so my heart is with every single farm family experiencing the stress this harvest has caused.
That stress has been kind of magnified given we are undergoing a pretty serious home renovation project at the moment. And, well that isn’t exactly going wonderfully as our home is currently sitting there not yet weather-proofed for winter. This is a horrifying feeling while we know that it could turn -30C at ANY moment.
These two things above are pretty big stressors. However, the hubs and I are taking things in stride, working pretty damn great as a team, and I have been keeping my eye on the bigger picture that (we are still so fortunate in many ways - friends, family, health, etc, etc.)
Then, last Tuesday morning my oldest daughter fainted on us after waking up with a bleeding nose. We all awoke with her telling us her nose was bleeding, then not a minute later (as I was helping her out with it at the bathroom sink) she collapsed like a wet noodle - not once, but twice. Scary thing when it’s your child and she’s only eight. We somehow managed to handle it all with relative calmness, and it (thankfully) turned out that rather than anything serious, my girl may just be one of those who could faint at the sight of blood.
The next morning hits… Wednesday. I receive a call from our contractor that our fully-completed basement (which was beautifully renovated seven years ago - the “current” renovation is happening in the upstairs) has been flooded with water after the upstairs washroom had a plumbing issue and overflowed. The entire basement floor was soaked and so were most of the contents. It was a disaster.
Great.
I knew this was going to be a nightmare to manage and sort out, but I kept in the back of my mind: “we have insurance. The "new" renovations weren’t affected. We have insurance. It can all be fixed."
Until Thursday morning hits and I receive an email saying our claim is being denied due to a loophole.
So yeah… remember that buck?
Life is trying to kick our a$$.
(oops, sorry again Grandma <3)
I hope life in your corner of the world is good. And, if it's not - I hope it turns around quick!
Billi J. Miller is an author, photographer and speaker from Alberta, Canada who is known for telling stories from the heart & telling stories that matter with her work. She delivers a powerful talk on speaking your truth to empower others & about blooming where you're planted. Aside from her well-known "farmwives book project", she writes a popular online blog series titled: "The Women Among Us". More on her work can be found here.