If at first you don't succeed....

We all have heard this before. "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." It's as if this phrase is truer now than it was when we first heard it, probably when we were 5 and trying to kick our training wheels to the curb. As adults, why is it that we feel so much like failures now, when it was tying our shoes and printing our names that seemed to trip us up so long ago? On paper, we should be deemed quite successful. We have a mortgage. We have two, nice, newish cars. I have a career, and Luke is in med school. These are very successful things! We have friends, family, and health. We are happy. I feel silly, after looking at this list, for feeling like a failure...but today....I failed.

I failed at teaching today. I snapped at some kids, got annoyed with a parent, said immature comments to colleagues (out of frustration and only venting about that annoying parent, but still...I sounded 12, not 24), and left feeling very overwhelmed and MAD! I was so angry that I stopped and binged on candy on the way home (my drug of choice...Cadbury Creme Eggs). Because of that...

I failed at my diet today. I have lost 15 lbs, and now I am letting this frustration with teaching impact my health and good eating habits. This is disappointing to me, but I know I will be back on track. Getting healthy has been a saving Grace for me, and I know I can't fall off the wagon because of something an ignorant parent said.

The end result....even in all my shortcomings today....I know that tomorrow is a new day and I will be just fine. For all the reasons listed above (and then some), Luke and I are succeeding, not failing, in life, and we are very blessed.

In a funnier "failure" moment...Luke broke our toilet trying to put it back on after the new tile was laid. We had to buy a new toilet (money going literally down the "pooper"), but oh well. You kind of HAVE to have a toilet. But, he installed the new one (with some help from my dad), and we chalked it up to inexperience and didn't let it make us feel "crappy" (I can't stop!). Luke has done a great job with the tiling and now we are down to all the pesky details like trim and transition strips and touchups and all that good stuff. I can't wait until the house is put back together for good (or until I start my next project!)