Joy in the Valley

I guess it's fairly obvious that things have been a little rough lately. The stress of this car situation (update - the "new" car I bought is a lemon, so we are trying to get my money back on it and I still don't have a car), the possible loss of all that hard-earned money, and some other factors in life are kicking me to the curb at the moment. Stress causes you to do weird things, like forget you put your debit card and driver's license in your jeans pocket for a hockey game one evening and then think you've been robbed when you can't find them in your wallet the next day. Or go to tap class, do a move, and then completely blank out on the routine. I simply stood there, facing wrong direction, trying to figure out what was going on.

Sooo... I haven't really reacted well to all of this, but I do want to thank those of you who read and comment because you all are such an encouragement to me. I used to think blogging was a great way to try to sharpen my writing skills. Now I know the truth - it's free therapy.

Anyway, in the midst of all this yuckiness there has been a bright spot, a new little life who came into the world this past Thursday at 12:20 p.m. This is Madelynne Celeste, my best friend's little girl, and when I held her all the other stresses in life just melted away.