27 5 / 2011
catching up.
the last week of march/first week of april came fast and furious and brought with it the most (combined) devastating news that we have received in years. at one point that week, i found myself on the floor in our living room (by myself while madeline was napping and andy at work), crying and laughing simultaneously and wondering how in the world i was going to pull myself and my family out of this funk that we were surely about to fall into. i was pretty low. it wasn’t pretty.
it started on a monday, the day after i got back from my cousin’s bachelorette trip in NC (aka “the calm before the storm”). we received some really bad news. and then tuesday arrived with even more bad news. and just when we thought it couldn’t get any worse for us, thursday delivered a letter in the mail from our landlord saying that they were selling our house and that we had less than a month to move out. um, WHAT? no, seriously… SAY WHAT?!?!
i had two options. i could either a) let this get the best of me or b) put my big girl britches on and make the best of it. i told myself over and over again that i was bigger/better/stronger than these problems, that they weren’t going to break me down. i also called mom and her and her and her and her and cried like a baby. (cut me some slack. i’m pregnant and hormonal.)
andy’s birthday was that sunday, and there was no way that i was going to let him look back on that week and remember all the issues that took place. so i packed our bags as fast as my body would allow and booked us on the next flight to miami. you know what they say… when the going gets tough, the tough goes to south beach. i’ll be the first to admit it… we were totally running away from our problems for a few days.
that getaway was just what we needed. it was never about the glitz and glamour of south beach. miami was about regrouping. learning to focus on what is really important. it sounds absolutely ridiculous, but it took us flying all the way to my birth state of florida to realize that it was time to go back to the basics. simplify. find balance. live in the moment. enjoy the little things. enjoy more of each other. appreciate what we have, instead of dwell on what was being taken from us. eliminate the stress. learn how to relax!
those dark days are behind us. looking back, they weren’t as dark as i’m making them out to be… but at the time, they sure felt that way. it makes me infinitely happy that andy and i were able to feed off of each other’s strengths, strengthen our relationship, and work through the problems together without fighting or getting frustrated with one another. i’ve said it before, and i’ll say it again… we make one hell of a team.
