8.28.2010

It's not looking good.

We are back in New York and I have been neglecting pretty much every responsibility I have. I thought that maybe if I ignored things then they would just go away. It didn't work out for me. So here is the breakdown of my life. I mean it; my life is breaking down.

1. Last Saturday, when we arrived in Ithaca, we finished unloading the moving truck and then drove to our friends' apartment where we left a lot of miscellaneous things for the summer. They let us borrow their children's wagon to help carry the boxes. We came back to our apartment, unloaded the boxes, swept out the truck, put their wagon in the back, and drove to drop off the wagon and turn in the truck. We got caught up with filling up the truck with gas and hurrying to drop it off before the deadline that we forgot to return the wagon to our friends. We went back when the moving truck company opened on Sunday morning and the wagon was gone. I have been in a daze about it for a week because I can't believe someone would steal a child's wagon.

2. Sam has been coughing for a few weeks. Before we left Ithaca, they told him that he had a dormant tuberculosis infection, which he seems to have collected for himself while in Hong Kong. They said he has a 10% chance it will become active in about 30 years but they wanted him to come back in for a chest x-ray. We got busy and moved away. When we got back to Ithaca, he went into the student health center and they started freaking out and made him put on a mask and said something about him not being able to go to school this year. Turns out he just had pneumonia. A few prescriptions later and he is feeling much better. He did finally get that chest x-ray though. We'll see how that turns out.

3. I mentioned that Alex had thrush. He thought it would be fun to share. So kind of him. Now I am nursing through a breast infection and it is painful. I have an appointment on Tuesday although it has been two weeks now and it is almost gone.

4. Sam's car lost power steering. We took it back into the shop that fixed the power steering after he drove into a tree because they warranty their work. Turns out it "wasn't what was fixed before" (go figure) so we took it out of their shop and drove to a place that we trusted more. When we pulled into the other shop, we started talking about whether we should leave his car or mine. That leads us to #5...

5. My car has been making loud noises and I knew the brakes needed replaced on the rear driver's side. We didn't want to ruin Sam's rack and pinion by driving around without power steering so we left his car at the shop. Today we drove mine to an activity on campus. We pulled into a parking lot and suddenly the car jolted like we had hit something. I got out of the car and immediately went to look at that back tire. It won't spin. I couldn't believe it. We broke my car. I feel so foolish for driving on it even though I knew it was breaking. I just hope it doesn't cost too much to fix. It cost $88 to get it towed into the shop. Now my car and Sam's car are friends at the shop and who knows how long we will be without a car. I am glad it happened in a parking lot instead of as we were driving across a gorge or something.

6. Alex is getting into everything. We decided to install the toilet clamp I bought in Columbus in April. Turns out it doesn't work. This isn't a very big deal as much as it is just another thing that makes me think, "Of course not. Why would anything go right?"

7. I chipped a tooth. While eating a gummy worm. It doesn't hurt it is just frustrating. I feel like I take care of my teeth and yet I have at least five cavities every time I go to the dentist (usually more like ten). And now I have a broken tooth. One more expense.

8. We are trying to find a way to manage the $7000 tuition and $7000 health insurance. The only positive side is that Sam got the job he applied for on campus.

As hard as things have been, I am learning to accept service. Usually I look at our lives and wonder how we got so lucky. The last week has been exactly the opposite. I can't come up with a solution to solve our problems. I pray for things to get better or to know what to do, and then the next day something else goes wrong. We are finally having the "poor college student" experience. It's hard when I can't hide in a closet and have my parents fix everything. So this is my self-pity. Now it is time to be an adult and deal with it.

14 comments:

Elena said...

That sounds terrible. I'm sorry you are having to deal with grown up things, I try to avoid that at all costs. Well I'll pray for you so that ought to help. And remember, JUST KEEP SWIMMING JUST KEEP SWIMMING, what do we do we swim, swim, SWIM!

Anonymous said...

I totally get what you're going through, adult problems suck. Hopefully things get better for you soon. Can you return the toilet clamp at least?

Geevz said...

Bleh. Being a big kid stinks. I think you should go to the grocery store and buy gushers and fruit roll ups and eat the whole package in one sitting. Just to remember that there are SOME perks to being a grown up.

But mostly, it's just more work and more expensive.

The Harker's said...

Keep reminding yourself, only like 9 more months before you are done with school.:) The time will fly by, I promise, and things will look better. I know we'll look back on these years of grad school as some of our best ones.:) (And please give no more thought to the wagon.:) Let me know if I can help you with anything.

Bryan and Ellie said...

Oh, Emily and Sam, I'm sorry. It seems really unfair how problems just collect like that. Bryan's dad always says trouble comes in threes, but yours seems like fives, sixes, or sevens! I hope this next week is better!

Carmen & Dave said...

We are feeling the same way right now. It seems like all of a sudden everything is happening and costs money, and we don't have any. I get really frustrated and feel like nothing is going to get better...

Paxton said...

No amount of cliche comments will make you feel better, nor will me sharing some of the horrible things that have happened to me, but I want you to know, life does go on and I hope you are able to laugh a little as it does!
Lots of love and prayers from our family to yours!

Spencer and Anna said...

I'm so sorry to hear about all this! I hope that things start looking up really soon.

Spencer and Anna said...

Oh, and for what it's worth, if you continue to have your breast infection (which I did for months on end back in the day...), something that really helped me was washing my breasts in vinegar after every nursing session. I know it sounds weird, but after I started doing that, the infections stopped completely. Vinegar and I are very good friends. :)

The Monsons said...

Wow that is a list!! For what its worth, I think you are quite witty and I laughed through most of these items just because its hard to imagine going through all of that at once!! Sorry!!

This is a bad time it sounds like for sure--but you will get through it, just plan for tomorrow, not for next week. That helped me in the (not so far) past when things were HARD. As long as I could get through the tasks of tomorrow I was okay.

Good luck, you have a good attitude to start! Accept as much help as you can! :)

Becky said...

Holy crow. What a crappy week. I'm so sorry. Can we bring you dinner or something?

Randi said...

I'm so sorry this is all happening. That is way too much for one family. I still love you. Even if I don't ever comment on your blog. I really hope everything starts looking up. We miss you guys!

Anna said...

Thinking of you. <3

The Macks said...

I know it's not very comforting now, but I can speak from experience and say that what doesn't kill you will make you so much stronger than you could ever imagine. Also, pain and struggles fad. You can all ways get through. Love you Emily!

On a happier note, I went to the Cactus Scottsdale pool yesterday and thought of you! I was so happy to be swimming again and I love that the pool is outdoors. Have you ever swam at that pool?

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