Flooded With Gratitude

It may be hard to believe, but I'm at a loss for words that are big enough to express my gratitude. 

On July 7th, the tornado sirens were going off, rain was pounding our home and we were in the basement watching it all out the windows. (Naturally, my brilliant hubby was on the other side of the state.) The rain water made a beautiful waterfall coming over our egress wall. (I even video taped it on my phone.) We noticed the water rising in the bottom of the egress. It rose quickly, almost to the window sill. The TV went off the air, the sirens went off again, and I tried to move the weather radio to the bathroom with the pets. My beautiful daughter was in a panic because she thought her toilet was overflowing...it wasn't. The egress had emptied...into my house.

We (including my niece who is here for the summer) dashed around picking up anything on the floor, putting the furniture up on blocks, carrying as much as we could upstairs. I texted my brilliant husband on the other side of the state asking how to turn off the gas on the fireplace. He called a friend to come see what was going on. I texted a friend with a strong, college bound, football playing, son to see if he could come help. Within minutes friends began showing up at our house. They didn't bother to knock, they just came in and started helping get everything out of the basements. (Thank goodness for Rubbermaid tubs!) 

Within hours, the carpet and padding was removed, fans and dehumidifiers were busy drying the rest of the floors, pizza was ordered and wine was being poured.

The outpouring from our friends overwhelmed me. The next day people (even one who also had a flooded basement) called to check in on me.

We moved here almost six years ago. I didn't (really) open up to building true friendships until about a year and a half ago. I don't know how I will ever be able to show these amazing people how grateful I am for their friendship. 

The lesson I've learned from this is more than I have amazing friends. When you truly allow yourself to open up and build friendships, it allows you to not only to be the person they turn to, but they can be the people you can turn to when you are pushed past your limits. It feels pretty amazing to have so many people I can turn to.

Do you have a group of friends you can turn to? If not (yet), are you ready to open your heart and start building those kind of relationships?

TREATS AND PLEASURES

Treating yourself to something special should not fill you with guilt.  (The squirrels at our cabin enjoyed the treats I put out for the birds and felt no guilt.)  So why is it as we get older treating ourselves or enjoying a simple pleasure can make us feel guilty? 

Is it such a bad thing to sit back and enjoy a beautiful day?  Even if you should be worrying about the flooded basement or the fact that you haven't been to the gym all week or written a single word on your novel this week... 

The fact is, it's okay to treat yourself.  It's a healthy behavior, but often hard to do without guilt.  I think it has a lot to do with being worried about looking frivolous (I love that word).  Life can't just be about work.  GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION TO HAVE TREATS!  Treats don't have to be expensive.  They just have to give you pleasure.  Look at my lovely onion...It is a treat for my family...and we appreciated it.  It was the first onion we've EVER grown.  Have you ever seen such a beautiful onion?  We hadn't.  We treated ourselves to taking the time to enjoy the beauty of our onion in the middle of

THIS:

I'd like to thank everyone for their supportive words over the last few days.  I'm one of those people who likes everything to be in its place, so the next few weeks are going to be a struggle for me.  This is my upstairs family room (the not flooded one) until the basement is restored to its prior condition (Servpro's words).  So, I'm going to be looking for some healthy "treats" to take my mind off this MESS.

In the middle of all of the excitement I reached a blog milestone.  I am  799 followers away from 1,000!  Which sounds like a reason to celebrate, right?  And what's a party without friends?  My blog buddy Jackee is only 796 people away from 1,000 followers.  Jackee and I will be announcing the beginning of our REALLY RANDOM PRIZE GIVE AWAY(s) next week...So be ready....It's going to be EPIC!

(I hope you will join us for some fun and some treats over the next few weeks! )

What do you consider a special treat???