Kaitlin and I were getting ready to fry chicken for Sunday dinner and heard a huge crash! Well, the back corner of the top shelf, where we keep some of our canned food for easy access, broke and the whole shelf slanted forward causing a dominoe effect of crashing jars, one right after the other! After the initial crash, it seemed like it went on forever as all I could do is stare in horror! I am VERY GRATEFUL that Emmy wasn't standing anywhere near this shelf because she plays there a lot! I am thankful that no one was at the water cooler getting a drink! And, I am thankful that all of my jars were not part of this wreckage, only about 30 or so! I was able to salvage some that basically bounced off of peaches and soft fruits/jams that were all over, but never broke! I lost blueberries, peaches, strawberry jam and tomatoes. The kids were amazed at the mess. I sent Kaitlin upstairs with Emmy and put her in charge of all 7 kids (Chance & Faith were here) for about 3 hours while Kevin and I cleaned up. It was a long and tedious task to make sure ALL of the glass was up off of the floor. It shattered all the way up the hallway to the front door and onto the family room carpet.
I did not cry for a long time. Yes, I was frustrated and sad at all of mine and everyone who'd helped me can this past years hard work, but I just finished reading a book series that had me think twice about crying or being upset. The series, The Great & The Terrible, by Chris Stewart, is amazing. I love how he tells things that we all need to understand and I like his point of view on how earth life and heaven all work. He is LDS and it takes you from premortal life through life on earth and the hereafter to some degree. You should check these books out. You will treat people differently on a day to day basis, you'll be more Christlike, you'll remember why we are here, you'll remember we all chose to come knowing the hardships we'd face.
In these books, he writes Satan and his dark angels whispering in you ear constantly to do bad things or think bad things, to be mean to people because they've done you wrong, etc., trying to get righteous people to sway their way and be miserable like them. They would stand by invisibly and watch as people suffered and laugh and sneer and things like that. All I could think of is how happy Satan was that my food storage was shattering everywhere and wouldn't it be a plus if I would get mad and scream and cuss and blame somebody for it! I DID NOT!!! I calmly cleaned it up and was just glad that no one in my family was hurt. It really puts things into perspective when I think of these books in my everyday life. I am never going to be perfect, but I want to treat people as nicely as possible and do what I can to help others. It's not always easy, but I would rather be the bigger person at all costs!
Anyway, Mom... I guess I will be canning peaches afterall! And, we had fish sticks and french fries instead of ....fried chicken, mashed potatoes & Gravy, corn, rolls, and homemade brownies. The kids loved fish sticks just as much though! They're good kids! They knew it was a sad thing and were great sports!!!
