For Goodness, Freakin' Sake

As a counselor, I understand the importance of life's stuff being used for good if you let it -- As a wife, I understand how that stuff can be a real pain in my... marriage -- but, truth be told, it does always seems to turn out for the better -- (ugh) --

Not sure if I've mentioned it, but I'm pretty much a city girl living in Po-dunk, NC -- Now mind you, 30 minutes I'm in VA Beach and 45 minutes I'm at the OBX and on my back porch I find a little bit of heaven, but to go from Philadelphia to here is quite the switch --

On our small farm we have 2 horses, 2 Beagles, 1 German Shepard and 11 Chickens (the 12th got too close to the Beagles) -- With this comes a lot of work -- They have to be fed every morning and night, water changed, poop scooped and loves and hugs all the time (go figure) -- Even the Chickens need extra love...

The story of the chickens goes a little something like this... Oh, look Babe, they are so cute and cuddly, I really want some -- I mean, we'd have fresh eggs every day! Curse the day I said these words -- (j/k) -- So... we took 12 chicks home in a 2'x2' box and our journey of raising Chickens began --

Dan said he'd build the chicken house if I'd paint it -- I happily agreed as this seemed like a fair deal -- Well... as you can see, he built it and I painted it (all but the top piece of trim, that is) -- Time has gone by and now they are starting to actually lay eggs -- Who knew chickens laid eggs without a Rooster!? (Oh, the things you learn on a farm!)

So, last week, Dan tells me we need to actually build some nests for them to lay their eggs in -- We've had boxes out there and they just weren't working -- We buy the wood Saturday and when we got back, went in the house to change -- I started making iced tea when Dan went outside and I told our nephew, Tyler to go help and I'll be out in a minute -- Well... a minute turned into 15 minutes and before I knew it, Dan stormed through the sliding door frantically pointing to his legs and saying something like I'm done, you build the nests, I'm not doing it... if you were out there helping me, I wouldn't have scraped the #$%&^ out of my legs -- His legs really did look terrible, but boy was I fit to be tied (I think that's how my mom said it) --

I wasn't sure how I caused him to get hurt, but I was ticked that he came in and blamed me, so now I was the one storming out the door to go prove to him that I could build the nests and didn't need him... so there -- (tongue and all) -- There I was, with all the piss and vinegar I could muster up, pulling out the wood, the saws, nail gun and tape measure to build those $*&%# nests when I saw Dan walking toward me -- In my mind I was like I knew you couldn't stay away... you just can't stand it, can you?

As he stood and watched, just as a teacher would their student, I proceeded with my task and within 15 minutes I had all my cuts and was ready to nail -- Of course, then I did need him cause I had no idea how to hook up the nail gun to the air thingy (can't think of the name) -- Anyway, he went on his merry way and mowed the lawn while I proceeded to build my nests -- To my complete amazement, I knew exactly what to do and how to accomplish it -- Oddly enough, I found myself feeling quite good about what I was doing and then even more so when I stepped back to look at my finished product -- I even thought to myself you know, this is good for me -- Of course my pride wasn't going to tell him that --

Dan finished the lawn and came back to see my finished product and the first thing out of his mouth was You know, this is good for you -- I smiled and admitted that it was, but of course came back with It's good for you, too -- He didn't understand and I simply said You need to know that you don't have to do everything around here... you have a very capable wife -- He agreed and apologized and I did the same --

I don't like getting all philosophical on anyone... but the truth is that there is always something good that can come from what seems to be a complete disaster -- I just hope you have a spouse as great as mine that you can work (and I don't use that word lightly) through those things to the point where you actually see the goodness :)