My house is a mess.
Card board boxes filled with household items are pushed into the center of our floors, kitchen cabinets have been emptied onto the dining room table, furniture is covered with drop cloths, saw dust is everywhere,
and I am going crazy.
How, how is a girl supposed to shine when her home is being renovated and, there it sits, in total disarray?
And then it occurred to me: Claudia, get over yourself.
The people of Tuscaloosa, Alabama and Joplin, Missouri are living in real disarray. Not the kind of disarray that keeps me from checking a few more items off today's to-do list. Or the kind of disarray that makes eating out easier than eating at home. Or even the kind of disarray responsible for wrinkled clothes, short tempers, or being tardy.
The people in these cities are enduring real disarray. The kind of disarray that rewrites your to-do list and makes processed food and wrinkled clothes feel like a dream come true. They aren't losing tempers because a dog traipsed through their home with wet feet. Instead, they're day dreaming about the good old days when noisy kids, messes and, yes, even wet paws filled the four walls of their their homes.
And, unlike me, the people of Tuscaloosa and Joplin know that being tardy is a luxury you only get when there is actually someplace to be. Not when you are living in the middle of a city that has been ravaged by tornadoes.
I'm over myself and my messy house.
Today I celebrate those who shine, not because of what they do, but because of the courageous and graceful way they live life when there is nothing they can do.
Shining off until tomorrow...