Gratitude Day 16: No Tears Today

"Frost Away"
The fog was just beginning to lift near the Walker Camp Prong Crossing on Newfound Gap Road.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
© 2014 Kristina Plaas, All Rights Reserved
Sundays are always very hectic for me in late fall. It's what happens when you are a church musician who is given the added responsibility of organizing programs for large regional meetings and Christmas. Most of us love Christmas music but making those musical events happen is a huge challenge. Given the changes in my life the last few months I haven't been as effective in meeting those challenges as I would like. I see everything that either needs to be done or that I haven't done well and feel, um, discouraged. I keep giving myself the guilty "should" lecture, listing everything I should have done but haven't. Add Sunday night fatigue to the mix and the results aren't good.

Tonight, just as I was about to cave and have a very nice, personal pity party I got a text from a friend I haven't seen or talked with in months. The last time I saw Carol we found each other, quite by accident, on Hyatt Lane in Cades Cove following a rain storm. It was another Sunday evening when I wasn't handling life very well. My mother was recovering from knee surgery, my father from a serious illness, and both were being well-cared for in a rehab facility. I took the opportunity to run away to the Smokies and let go of some stress. While we waited for sunset, Carol listened to me as I decompressed. I would need that moment of recovery as the very next day my mother had a heart attack that would ultimately take her life. I've cried every Sunday since then, but today I was optimistic that I could have a no tears day. I was about to break down again when, out of the blue, Carol messaged me. Instead of tears I got kind and encouraging words that lifted me up just as I was about cry a river. I made it through with the help of a friend. I'm very grateful for no tears today. Very grateful.

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