She could never go back and make some of the details pretty.
All she could do was move forward and make the whole beautiful.
-Terri St. Cloud

The past week has been very trying and stressful. It started with waking up on a beautiful Saturday morning. We had a day planned that we have been looking forward to for weeks. Our plans were to join our friends at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore to go on their boat and enjoy a rare 75 degree sunny April day in Baltimore. Sounds like a perfect day, doesn’t it?

Day One...Well, while I was in the shower the water stopped. There was a problem with our well. Then immediately after we realized our air conditioning unit wasn’t working. So needless to say, we spent the day at home with repairmen.

Day Two... By then I was really looking forward to this day. I was going with my girlfriends to see Pink and stay over in DC. The concert was amazing and we spent the night at a very nice hotel and we tried to plan our morning so that we would leave DC no later than 2 pm to avoid rush hour traffic. When I asked the valet for my car they could not find my keys. Two hours later they were located.. the valet from the day before took them home with him and they were in his coat pocket from the night before. Needless to say, if you are familiar with DC trafffic, we did not get home until way after six pm.

Day Three... The next day I got a call from my husband, Steve, he had a kidney stone and needed emergency surgery but he was in Denver. Luckily, the meeting was with a table of urologists. I would not be able to fly out there and be with him in time it was too late in the day. Also I had a veterinary cardiologist appointment with my 8 year old Havanese who I recently found out has a heart murmur. Unfortunately after an EKG I found out that afternoon my precious little one, Kirby, has been suffering with advanced heart disease.

Day Four... Steve gets back from Denver. Seems ok and a few hours later that evening he has bladder spasms and is in so much pain he needs to go to the hospital. Luckily our son Eric is working on the ambulance that night and he and his colleague, Scott, take him to the emergency room. Thank you Chestnut Ridge Fire Department.

Day Five... Steve has another surgery first thing in the morning after we spent almost the entire evening in the emergency room. He is doing well now.

Day Six... We had a trip planned to be with our kids in New York which we, of course, cancelled so Steve could heal and Kirby could start his meds and I could stay home to spoil and nurse the two of them.

Day Seven... A day of reflection, resilience, and gratefulness. As I sit here having my morning coffee by a sunlit window in my cozy pajamas, I look back on this trying week and think about how grateful I am for the simple things. The things we don’t often think about but are always there. Things like water, air conditioning, transportation, love, sleep, family, friends, pets, flowers, sunny days and last but definitely not least good health. This may have been a week that you could call Robin’s horrible, terrible, no good, very bad week but I am going to call it.. A week of Cultivating Resilience.