When Life Is Like a Country Music Song by Joan Reeves

By the time September rolled around, I'd begun to think that Life was like a country music song.

Image at left: "Cowboy-guitar-music-western-hat by Алекса Вулф from Pixabay

I wryly decided that because it made me chuckle rather than give in to the stress that has dogged us since May.

You may have thought that I resigned from this blog, but the truth is that Life in all of its frustration, stress, and change fell on me like a dump truck full of bricks.

Long Story Made Short

May: our home went up for sale and we experienced the joys of living in a house that had to look like a model home from dawn until dark. Said house sold the first week, but our realtor wanted to take backup offers, so we had to maintain the model home look until a week before closing. With out house sold, we had to find another place to live! Yikes. We'd  put off the closing date on our house until July, thinking that would give us plenty of time to house shop.

Rest of May and June: The housing market that helped us get top dollar now was our enemy as we tried to find the unicorn, i.e., a one-story home in good condition with a nice yard at an affordable price. We hunted high and low, but everything was too huge, too dirty, too over-priced, or needed too much work.

July: on the first day, we saw the second unicorn—the second one-story house—good bones but needed serious upgrading. We made an offer within 10 minutes of leaving the house, and it was accepted. We asked for a closing date the first business day after closing on the house we were selling. Everything seemed to fall into place. Uh oh!

Gloom, Despair, and Agony on Me (Written by Buck Ownes and Roy Clark)

Yep, like the country song says, "If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all." The day we made the offer on what was to be our new home, the thunderstorms started. 

From July 1, every day there was a major thunderstorm with gully-washing rain.

That's when we discovered our soon-to-be new home had no gutters on the house. We also discovered the underground French drain was completely clogged up. All that rainwater gushed down the roof, onto the patio, and flowed like a river toward the back of the house.

That beautiful mature live oak tree in the back yard blocked up all drainage routes for the sides of the lot. Day after day of rain. When we closed on the house we sold, it was pouring rain. When we closed on the house we were buying, you guessed it. Pouring rain.

Through all of that, we were packing up our house and lining up contractors to handle the remodeling and upgrade of our new house.

You Done Stompt on my Heart and Smashed That Sucker Flat (Written by Mason Williams.)

Here are all the things that happened next. 

The beautiful oak tree in the back yard had to be removed because it and the huge roots were primary causes of near-floods every time it rained. *head banging wall*

Moving day featured the biggest thunderstorm yet! A wet stray dog ran into the house through the open door, leaving puddles of rainwater all over the new wood floors we'd had installed that week. Everything brought in was soaking wet even though wrapped in moving blankets. *head banging wall*

The plumber underestimated the cost of installing a gas line. *head banging wall*

The only appliances we could buy that could be delivered that first weekend included a microwave and a refrigerator that aren't what we wanted. *stuck with them until they die which means they'll outlive me*

Gutter companies and French drain installers charging twice what they did a year ago. If you can get on their schedule! *head banging wall*

Electrician unable to begin work on our project until alarm company installed the security system. Alarm company was backed up until mid-September—2 months away. *head banging wall*

In early August, our older daughter who was not vaccinated, contracted CoVid pneumonia, was hospitalized, and almost died, but they resuscitated her. *scared to death & praying constantly*

When she was well enough to go home and try to regain her health, our younger daughter and her husband, both of whom were vaccinated, caught CoVid. *head banging wall*

Then my sister-in-law hoisted a case of Gatorade into the trunk of her car—something she's done countless number of times before—and suffered a compression fracture of her L1 vertebrae. After an agonizing week of pain that couldn't be relieved with anything because there were no hospital rooms or staff available due to CoVid, she finally had surgery. *head banging wall*

That's it. I've never felt more helpless than when my daughter was alone in the hospital and my sister-in-law was in such pain and couldn't get in a hospital! I felt as if my heart had been stomped flat. I didn't care a fig about the house or anything but getting my family healthy  again. I was ready for this summer to be over and done with!

Thank God and Greyhound She's Gone (Written by Larry Kingston and Ed Nix.)

August, that hateful bitch, finally left. September rolled in, but I was too worn out to celebrate. I decided to take the month off. Actually, I've been "off" writing and off-line since May.

I'm trying to get my writing groove back, but, honestly, I'd rather talk to family, read books, and stream videos. So this blog post is a first step in the writing direction.

The Truth

Most of what frustrates people are merely irritants. Rainstorms, remodeling delays, over-priced everything, and all of the stuff that bothered me in May, June, and July are petty things. Stuff like that pales to insignificance when someone you love is sick or in pain or threatened in any way.

Work on the house continues. I'm no longer concerned about that. If it's finished this month, fine. If it's next month, no problem. I'm grateful and feel blessed that our family has survived.

Maybe I'll write a country song and call it, "No Worries. No Problems. Too Blessed to Be Stressed."

Giveaway

If you've stuck with my far-too-long post about how I spent my summer, then enter my giveaway, open to residents with a U.S. mailing address.

The prize is a copy of Cheatin' Hearts, Broken Dreams, and Stomped-On Love: The All-time Funniest Country Music Titles by Jim McMullan.

This little book is from my personal library. I've started unpacking my books, and I'm giving many away because I've downsized from 4 bookcases to 2. The book is in good condition and from a home of non-smokers.

I'll randomly draw a name from all eligible comments on Sunday, September 19, 2021. An eligible comment is one left with an email address so I can contact the winner.

Now, go forth and enjoy September. Don't worry. Be happy. Spread love and joy. And leave a comment to enter the Giveaway.

If you're down in the dumps and need an attitude adjustment, try one of my romantic comedies, Just One Look, a Kindle Unlimited free read or buy for $3.99 and keep forever.

Seduction and sex can be pretty funny—especially when both sides play dirty!