Is this real life?

Here is the inspiration for the title of my blog tonight.

I know we have all watched and laughed hysterically at this video because the little boy is just so precious and everything he says is just hilarious. I have felt like him a little the past couple of days. No, not because I went to the dentist and had stitches on my teeth, but because there have been a lot of crazy things going on that have made me continually stop and ask, "Is this real life?" I just want to point on four things in this video that I have said or done over the course of the past few days. 1-Of course, the famous-"Is this real life?" 2-The part when he screams like a banshee, yeah I've done that a time or two. 3-I have asked myself over and over "Why is this happening to me?". 4-Finally, I've questioned "Is this gonna last forever?". Now let me explain.

Yesterday morning began in the most interesting of ways. My grandfather is suffering from Alzheimer's and he is continually getting worse as the days go on. This past week has been especially hard on him and my father who is acting as his caregiver. Yesterday morning I was woken up by loud noises, some shouts, and a couple of slammed doors. My grandfather had woken up thinking he was somewhere other than home. Never a good thing. It breaks my heart to see him suffer from this disease and yesterday morning, as he sat in his chair talking to someone that wasn't there, I began to realize the importance of savoring every moment you get to spend with the people you love and not wasting one second. I left for church feeling oddly blessed and encouraged. I want to put this song in here because it is becoming one of my favorites. We played this yesterday morning at the end of the service and every time I hear it, it brings tears to my eyes. The words are so true, powerful, and moving. And as I played this song yesterday morning, I thought of my grandpaw.

Now here comes the crazy. On my way to church, my roommate Laura calls me and tells me that a mirror fell off of the wall and sliced the pipe behind the toilet in half. Our apartment is soaking wet from the top to the bottom. Water was dripping through the floor of the second story into the living room, kitchen, and closet of the downstairs. I just laughed. Poor pineview. If you live here, you know what it's like. Somewhere between church and dealing with the flood, my twitter account got hacked which has just provided me with some extremely entertaining phone calls, messages, and tweets asking me what in the world I was trying to tell them. As I get to Athens, I am welcomed by a checkerboard ceiling, wet carpets, and no air. The water flooded the air conditioning unit and the heat was causing the apartment to fill up with a terrible stink. That terrible stink is contagious let me tell you. It took hold in the downstairs, the upstairs, and even inside of me. Yesterday I laughed about all of the crazy that was going on, and I woke up today frustrated and mad. Not very becoming.

The air was supposed to get fixed-it didn't. The carpet wasn't supposed to smell-it did. Things were piling up today. The children I nanny were putting on their worst attitudes for me. I was defeated by the end of the day. As I was cleaning out my room, where the temperature is averaging about 85 degrees or so, I ran across the sheet music for a song we had to do at BCM. I felt embarrassed for my attitude lately. It is frustrating not having air conditioning-but so many people all over the world live every day without air conditioning. The odor rising from my carpets is gut wrenching-but people are confronted with gut wrenching sights,sounds, smells all over the world every day. People don't always get their needs met-if I learned anything over the summer it was that. So I found this song and had to sit back and retune my attitude for a moment. The Lord provides our needs. He provides our NEEDS. I have food. I have shelter. I have wonderful neighbors and friends who are letting me sleep in their apartment each night. I have been given the chance to be patient and gracious and to be grateful for all the He has blessed me with. It's amazing how He uses things to teach us lessons. I was joking yesterday when I tweeted about our water pipe and used the hashtag #blessingsthroughbustedpipes?. But it's true. He is blessing me through this busted water pipe. And I'm learning the meaning of gratitude.