When it rains, it pours

My family gathers together most Easter weekends to go camping.  We usually camp at Benbrook Lake where the ashes of my father and brother are scattered, some ten years now.  Things didn't quite go as planned this year.

I come from a large family of four (now three) brothers and a sister. At least it's large by today's standards. And it's quite a feat and a treat to get all of us together at the same time.  Especially for my mom's sake, we try to accomplish this twice a year at Easter and Thanksgiving.  Usually more than half of us show up at the designated spot.

This last Easter, I had only received responses from my sister and my brother's widow.  Even with this poor showing we were going to make a go of it. On the day we were scheduled to leave, I received a phone call from the campgrounds informing me that our sites were under water! We had received so much rain recently.  Yes, we need the rain. We always need the rain. It was too late to make reservations some place else and everywhere else was booked.

Since we already had Good Friday off, my husband and I decided to go ahead and refinance some property we own.  We purchased it in hopes of reselling it for a considerable profit.  Three years later, we still own it and no one is even looking at it.  Besides the mortgage on the house, we now have another mortgage, and another lawn to mow.

The weather had turned an ugly corner, with rain and Tornados that Friday night.  In Texas, Easter weekend is usually full of sunshine, warm weather, and short clothing.  On Saturday it snowed! How crazy is that? We were glad we weren't camping by then. I did set up the play hut in the living room for my daughter.  She was extremely disappointed that we didn't get to go camping.

On that same Saturday, I woke up and noticed that my dog's legs weren't working.  She was old and her health had steadily been declining. This particular morning it was worse than ever.  With tears in my eyes I called the vet and set up her last appointment.  As I told my daughter, Bingo's soul was in doggie heaven and her body was buried in the backyard.  The stone marker reflected "the skies wept frozen tears for you."  My husband can be so sentimental sometimes.

I did come out ahead by Sunday as I helped my five-year-old princess color eggs. It brought everything back into perspective. We might have money problems and have to weather some severe storms, both real and metaphorically, but we still have our health (knock on wood) and a wonderful family with lots of love.

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