The Mouse House...

Well, I honestly can't believe I'm going to tell the entire world about the mouse house....but there really is a purpose to it...so here goes.... I was walking out of Super One Foods the other day, and saw they had sitting by the door, grills for sale. Just like so many other grocery stores, they bring in seasonal stuff, then they mark it up outrageously, and try to get you to "remember" you need a grill for the summer! Does anybody really buy that? Anyway, back to the point of my story...when I saw that grill....my mind immediately went back in time. For real....I went right back to the end of 1998, and the beginning of 1999. Madison was a baby, and Chandler was just about 3. We lived in our 2nd townhouse, which was right across the street from our 1st townhouse, and very conveniently 2 doors down from my mom's townhouse. I loved our street, and our situation with my mom being so close. It really was one of those ideal situations....for a little while at least. But then, the bottom fell out....I started noticing hints of mouse droppings. Then I saw a mouse, and then eventually two.....and so on. Our row of townhouses backed up to a cow pasture, and evidently little tiny field mice had come in and built a nest somewhere in our walls. It was awful!!! I cannot even explain to any of you out there how truly awful it is to have a mouse infested house...that you can't seem to do anything about. We called our landlord, they would do nothing. We called an exterminator, they said they could come set traps....which is exactly what we could do, and did. I won't go into all the details, but before it was all said and done, I couldn't even watch movies like Fievel Goes West, Mickey Mouse....or any movie for that matter that had a cute little mouse in it...because we frankly had had to kill so many. It really was a time that I think the Lord had to give us all grace to live through, because when I think about it now, it just freaks me out. Anyhoo....so when I saw that grill at Super One a few days ago, and my mind went back to that time, I found myself laughing in the parking lot thinking about what all we went through. I remember one time, a mouse was bold enough to come out while we were all in the living room....Roy and Chandler, (who again was 3 by now) had cornered this mouse under Chandler's little recliner. They couldn't figure out what to do next, but Chandler thought it was the most fun in the world. I remember running upstairs with Madison, but could still hear them downstairs. I sat there and listened to Chandler belly laugh so much with his Daddy trying to catch that mouse. I remember sitting in the kitchen on the phone with Roy while he was out of town, (at the time he was a drug rep, and traveled quite alot), and seeing little mice scurry around all over the top of our grill on the back porch. (Hence the recollection when I saw the grill) When we finally moved into our current house, back in 1999, Chandler was so sad, because he didn't want to leave "the mouse house". How crazy is that?? So, I sat in my car driving home, thinking how I never imagined then, that I would look back at those times with fondness. And while they certainly weren't great times in our lives....we sure made some great memories. I realized then, that I hope and pray, that in 10 years from now....I will look back on these drastically different, but also equally stressful times, with fondness. Am I taking the time to make the good memories? Or am I just drowning myself in the stress of daily life. I want to have more times to look back on and laugh about than I can count. And truthfully, it's just a decision away. A decision to look at things on the bright side. Maybe if I continually ask myself..."how am I going to remember this in 10 years?" it might put a new perspective on it. I'll keep you posted how it goes...but as of now....I am exceedingly grateful that mice in my house is not one of my stresses!! Praise the Lord for small wonders!!!