Little Things

Feb. 22, 201

Today I’m grateful that our monthly trip to Waco and Killeen wasn’t the physical beating it typically is. We leave early in the morning, which is in itself really hard, and I spend a good part of the day before making food to pack for the trip. We are gone until at least 5:00 p.m., virtually all of that time spent sitting in the car or in meetings. I come home aching all over and tired beyond belief. But not today! And that was even after being out last night and not getting to bed early. That’s a pretty big miracle for me.

I’m grateful for some other things that happened on the trip – they might seem silly or insignificant, but I see them as blessings nonetheless:

• After a meeting in Waco, we went to Killeen, where I discovered my watch wasn’t on my wrist. I had it on in Waco, and I had a panicked feeling that it fell off somewhere in Waco. I went through my bag, and there it was in one of the pockets. That watch – which is meaningful to me because Husby gave it to me when I earned my associate's degree – has never come unclasped, but there it was, wide open. It could have fallen on the floor somewhere in the stake center or in the parking lot – in the pouring rain. But it fell into the pocket of my bag. 
• It always rains on the days we go to Waco/Killeen. Today, the ice storm that weather forecasters were predicting began to blow in. It rained all the way to Waco, though not very hard; it eased up and even stopped in Killeen, but by the time we ate lunch after the meeting, it was raining in earnest. It came harder and harder, and I-35 was clogged both coming and going with 18-wheelers, and on the return trip as the rain increased, the semis sprayed it in blinding sheets. We watched the outside temperature drop from the 40s by a couple of degrees every few minutes. Traffic began to slow, and a quick check of the map app showed an accident quite a ways ahead. We got off on the frontage road and cruised along past all the traffic until we passed the wreck, saving us probably 45 minutes and a lot of aggravation. I am grateful that we traveled safely, made good time, and that the rain didn’t turn to sleet until the early hours of this morning when I was tucked safe and warm under my blankets in my sturdy, warm house. 
• I am grateful that I had ONE tissue left in my purse when we stopped for a restroom break near Waco and the stall I chose had no toilet paper. None. Not a square. The miracle is that I had given Husby the other of two tissues in my purse on the way down when a song in the CD touched him and brought tears to his eyes. Small thing, yes, but having one tissue in my purse sure felt like a blessing when I was sitting there looking at the empty TP holder.