It is Time to Adjust My Vision

I really need to make an appointment to adjust my "perspectacles". I am really losing grip over what is important and what I need to let slide.

I don't love the heat. We went from winter to summer too fast. We didn't have time to enjoy the mild weather before we tipped the thermometer and hit the 30's. I get grumpy when I'm hot. And I was hot.

I ceremoniously turned on the air conditioner and blamed menopause for the fact that I couldn't cool myself down. Until I asked someone at the very end of our day, if it felt cooler inside the house than out (it was too hot to take the kids outside this afternoon so we stayed inside where it was "cool"). Their answer was a bit of a shrug and "It seems to to be a bit cooler in here..."

It was that moment when I realized I had not taken the cover off the air conditioner before I turned it on. I raced to the thermostat and turned off the air conditioning. But it was too late. The damage was done.

I brushed off the outside of the air conditioning unit, came inside and set the temperature lower to kick start the a/c unit. Then we went outside, enjoyed some time with our cats and waited to hear the air conditioning kick in.

I was berating myself for making such an avoidable and costly error. Visions of repair bills &/or a whole new air conditioner were dancing through my mind. "You have no one to blame but yourself!" I couldn't stop the loop berating thoughts.

Then we sat still and watched our frisky, curious little cats. They were in their glory. Jet, our "pup" has it out for a bee that has decided to visit our yard. He literally chases that bee around like a pup would. Running leaps, with both paws in the air. He misses every time. Then Ray, our logical thinking cat, spotted the bee. He calculated the trajectory of the bee, his timing, the wind direction and "WHOOMPH!" He got it!!

He immediately started limping because the bee got the last word. Our poor little smart cat got stung by the bee.

My son immediately started to tell me of all the ramifications if we didn't get the stinger out of our skittish cat's paw. I knew before we started talking, that our cat would have none of that. I was right.

We came inside and I googled two things. 1) "Air conditioner doesn't work" and 2) "What to do if your cat gets stung by a bee"

Of course the first thing you check when your a/c doesn't work is the power supply. Did a breaker get flipped? Then it got technical. It had stories and diagrams about how to check the thermostat. How about if the motor got overheated because some fool forgot to take the cover off?? I was too embarrassed to google that question.

Feeling in over my head, I googled our cat's bee sting. They suggested using the edge of a credit card to get the stinger out. Sooner than later. Because if the venom got into the cat's system and the cat was allergic to bees, they could go into anaphylactic shock.

While my son tried to doctor our cat, I went downstairs to trouble shoot our air conditioner's troubles. And sure enough! I checked the breaker box and the reason the air conditioning wasn't working was staring me right in the face. I flipped the switch and "POOF!" we were back in business.

Meanwhile my son had done all he could do for our cat and decided just to watch him for symptoms of an allergic reaction. An hour later, his paw pad was a bit swollen and he would lick and bite at it a little bit but his body language was not that of a cat in pain.

I went to sleep in a cool house with a grateful cat snoozing and breathing easy, at my side. All was right in our world.

Then I woke up and read of the fires raging, houses destroyed and families displaced in Fort McMurray, Alberta.

I read of the refugee crisis in Europe "The situation for our refugees is worse now than it was in the fall. Borders have closed. Food is running out. Babies are dying. Parents are desperate. The evil the refugees are running from is real and it remains." (quoted from Momastery.com).

I read of the hundreds of thousands who are homeless.

And my biggest worry was a non-functioning air conditioner and a cat with a bee sting??

Give your head a shake, girl!! People are fighting for their lives out there and you are bothered because you can't keep cool and bubble wrap and protect your little family from the threat of a bee sting?

It is time to open my eyes a little wider and look out beyond the smallness of my world. It is time to adjust my vision and remind myself of our good fortunes and share what I can, when I can.

Life is very good over in this little cool haven or ours. Our bee-stung cat is running around like a kitten this morning. I am ever grateful for the little glitches in our day which serve to remind me how very fortunate we are.