I'm getting better

Growing up, things got tough when I turned 12 (I think). I really remember it when I turned 15 and my parents divorced. Due to circumstances too numerous to mention (and it's not really important to the blog) my mom struggled. And I mean STRUGGLED to get three girls through college, pay the mortgage, and provide for us so that we would continue to grow and be successful. I always remember money being an important thing for me. I would save just about everything I had and received. I worked my butt of in college so that I could keep getting my grants and loans. Things would sometimes get rough for my mom - you know the unexpected things that popped up. She already worked the equivalent of 3 jobs (extended day in the morning, teach school, do extended day in the evenings, and then go to work from 6 to midnight at the local grocery store training baggers and cashiers). Money was tight even though she did that and got a little help from her parents. So when the unexpected happened, she handled it the best she could and find a way to fix it. I kinda inherited her feelings about money and the panic that sometimes comes with the unexpectedness of events.

In the 12 years that I've been married, I think I've gotten better about my relationship with money and in dealing with the unexpectedness of living. However, there is one rule that I think Jason has learned about me and bills. I never, and I mean NEVER open a bill after 5:00 p.m. Central Standard time. If it's horrible or something that is a shock, I can't deal with it until the next day. So usually when I get something like that, I wait until the next morning around 8:00 to open it. It's my coping strategy. Here are 2 things that happened yesterday that really put my stress management to the test.

1) I had a pretty stressful day at work. My summative, lack of sleep, 56 6th graders that act like they're 7th graders, pissy children that are releasing all of the bad thoughts on each other because it's safe, etc. I get home and when I get home I find two cars and one plumbing truck in front of my house. My father in law's truck is parked diagonally in the driveway in the back. When I walk in the house, my father in law looks at my husband and says, "Do you want to tell her or do you want me to do it?" Not a great way to start off a conversation. It turns out it has to do with the remodeling of the half-bath we're doing. The toilet won't work that we'd gotten to put into the bathroom. So he had to get a new one. The old one cost $130, the new one cost $340. HOLY CRAP! It's a freaking toilet! Yet another expense. It seems that in the last two months we've gotten hit with "extras" at a time when we didn't need it (Jason's getting docked due to his absences).

2) Then this morning Jason comes out to the car and says, "I know you don't like to get hit with things like this first thing in the morning, but...". He goes on to let me know that the hospital system is filing our account as delinquent because of a lack of payment. Okay. i knew I could fix this one because I'd sent in the checks and they'd been cashed. At this moment my frustration is simply that it's another thing I have to do. Sure enough, the money was posted to the account 3 days after the statement went out.

I wasn't the happiest of campers last night, but was back to my normal self this morning. So, it only took me a day to get over my panic and frustration with the whole unexpected money thing.

I just keep chanting my mantra: Nothing lasts forever. This too shall pass.