Too Much Togetherness

Our family is beginning to crumble. After over four weeks of our home being torn up and us living in the basement, our wits are at their very end. The hope is that we are in the home stretch, the counter tops come on Wednesday and Mark painted the kitchen over the weekend, so it is just a matter of time until we can put things away and use the entire house to live in.

I was a good sport at first, actually we all were. There was an adventure about having the kitchen in the basement and spending all of our time here together, but the adventure is over and we are now in survival mode. We are desperately trying to stay calm and not come completely unglued when we have very little privacy or alone time. Our lives feel stressed and uncomfortable. I struggle with the feelings I have, because although I already knew how lucky we were, I cannot help the feeling that we are so fortunate compared to the lives that were torn apart in Japan on Friday during the earthquake and subsequent tsunami.
 Perhaps this is an opportunity to think bigger and learn. I am looking outside of my life and myself. Watching the quiet dignity of the Japanese people as they come to terms with what has happened and they begin the process of cleaning up and moving forward, I realize that the chaos that we have here is merely a blip on the screen. We are living in a temporary mess with the end in sight. The people of Japan are not so lucky.

 A few more days of togetherness can be tolerated, as well as a few more meals prepared in a small space and a few more moments of too many people in that same small space. When it is all said and done, we have our lives back to normal and we can move on. The odds are actually good that we will miss this little adventure we have been on. In the mean time though I will reflect on how fortunate we are to be together, and pray that the lives that were torn apart by Mother Nature's wrath will heal in the days, weeks and months to come.