When It All Comes Together

This past week has been up, down, and then some. I honestly wondered if I was going to make it through the darn thing, at times. It didn't start out bad; not really. Just a normal day with nice weather, a message from the artist working on my book cover, and a note from the one doing edits for the book I'm currently working on.

Then hell broke loose and I kind of had a meltdown.

The document sent back on my book edits wouldn't open. When it did finally open, the edits had disappeared - just went out into the ether and never returned. After banging my head on the wall and my keyboard for longer than I care to admit and a huge crying jag that I'm still embarrassed about, I finally pulled myself out of it and started over. Since I didn't actually throw the laptop out the window, I'm calling that a win. Right?

Next, my knee gave out. It's swollen to the point I can't even put a pair of pants on and hurts when I try to stand up. Good thing I live in a 27-foot RV, so there's not too far to go to reach things. I couldn't find my knee brace - probably disappeared into the same place the darn edits did - and the trip to town to get a new one wasn't successful. I had to order one online and I'm still waiting on it to be delivered. In the mean time, the swelling has gone down and Tylenol is my new best friend. No, I didn't go to the doctor for it, by the way. I know what's wrong and I'm not paying to have someone tell me what I already know. I took a tumble down a flight of stairs several years ago and ripped the meniscus in two places. Someday, the knee will probably have to be replaced, but today is not that day.

The final straw was the beautiful spring-like weather that brought forth daffodils, redbud blooms, and birds migrating through suddenly decided to dip into freezing temperatures. What. The. Fuck. This is Oklahoma. It's mid-March. People are planting their gardens. Sorting their fishing lures and pulling the boats out of storage. Digging out their bathing suits, shorts, tank tops and flipflops. Did Mother Nature not get the memo? Who's responsible for not delivering the memo? Someone give her some meds - let me look, I might have a few extras I'm not currently taking.

So, yeah. It was a melt-down, I-hate-my-life, can-I-kill-something-now kind of week.

And then things just kind of came together. No, the weather is still acting wonky, but the weatherman says tomorrow it's going to be back int he 70s. My knee still hurts, but not unbearably, and the brace is on it's way. I muddled my own way through my book to do my own edits and I'm at the point of a final read through. The cover is nearly finished and looks fantastic. All that's left is adding the title, blurb, and such and I'm good to go.

Life seldom gives you the rose-strewn path through the enchanted forest that you walk merrily along singing about love, happiness, and all things sweet and good. Sometimes it tosses a couple of mudslides, a few stones, and a bunch of thorns along the path just for kicks. The thing is, you just have to keep plowing your way through and not let it bury you. That's how life works.