All Hail 2008

Well, according to my hubby and some very dear friends, I welcomed 2008 in with the bang I asked for but unfortunately - the mixture of decongestant and Zima put me in a early evening fog and I remember very little of my own NYE celebration. No regrets though - my friends all said I had a good time, they had a good time and no one got hurt. A great way to start the new year.

So I was trucking along thinking 2008 was going to be my year.....it cannot possibly be worse than 2007, right? I sure hope not!! All in all - so far, so good. There have been a few bumps on the road and I was beginning to question whether or not "karma" hated me but I'm trying hard to be rational in 2008 so I'm trying to keep the "karma" thoughts out of my head. See, I watch "My Name is Earl" so after seeing Earl turn his back on karma this week only to have it chase him down and try to do him in - I had karma on the mind when I made the mistake this past Friday of thinking "life isn't so bad, maybe 2008 is going to be my year". Then WHAM - my toddler slams his face into the side of the recliner while running laps around the family room and proceeds to come up with blood gushing out of his mouth. Oh boy...here we go again. After some blood (his), sweat (mine), tears (both of ours) and ice, I realized in a panic that he'd put his tooth completely thru his lip. When I was 10, a friend threw a plastic baseball bat at my brother and my mouth stepped in the way. I also put a tooth or teeth thru my lip and ended up with stitches inside and out. Although I ended up with my first dog and the world's largest container of pudding from the boys parents, I couldn't think of the bright side when thinking my baby boy was going to need stitches. Luckily, common sense prevailed and I had hubby call my dear friend Dr. T. She calmly told him that unless the gash was larger than a quarter of an inch - we were fine. Main thing was to check for loose teeth (there were none - tragedy side-stepped). So the ice did the trick, the bleeding stopped and all the trauma put my baby into a sound sleep for the rest of the night. He looks like he has a soul patch under his bottom lip and a fever blister inside the lip but other than that - he seems fine. Bless his little resilient heart.

So on Saturday, I'm thanking God that his injury wasn't worse and again thinking "life ain't so bad". Then I get the call from hubby after church that Petsmart had called and the groomer clipped our dog too deep and created a gash in her neck. I needed to meet them at the animal clinic to pick her up from getting stitches. Ok, so now I'm really railing on Karma or who/whatever doesn't like me to think that my life is okay. Geesh, can't a person have a happy moment where they just enjoy the way life is going? Does every good have to be countered with a bad? Every happy with a sad? Sure seems that way in my life and the lives of the people I know and love. The dog was okay and only 1/3 groomed when I picked her up. Petsmart paid all vet expense (as they should have) and another tragedy side-stepped. The vet said they actually clipped right above her jugular so had they gone any deeper she might have bled to death. Nice visual.

Needless to say, I started off Sunday thinking - "okay Karma, you win. No happy thoughts today". So I spent yesterday trying to keep my mind completely clear of happy thoughts and I actually had a pretty miserable day. I wasn't enjoying anything we did as a family (Chuck E Cheese, buying a new light for the entry way, putting together a puzzle w/ my grandmother). So last night, I came to the realization that I cannot be afraid of Karma and I certainly can't hide from it. I just have to live life and accept what it brings, good or bad. I so want 2008 to be great but I also know that sometimes bad things happen. I'll just have to hope that the bad things in 2008 are manageable.