Lady Laura and I took the boys down to our favourite little holiday spot — only about 40 minutes down the road.
Nothing exotic; just a reliable little escape to unwind and let off a little steam.
And all things considered, it started well.
We had green lights the whole way, and traffic parted like I was Moses behind the wheel, which should have been the first warning sign.
What followed, however, was a masterclass in Murphy's Law.
Liam, in his infinite toddler wisdom, ran headfirst into the blunt corner of a table and fell arse-backwards to the floor. Luckily, beyond the avalanche of tears, there was no concussion to be observed, no loss of appetite, or vomiting, which would've signalled something far graver.
Once the initial swelling went down with cold compression, we went to the pub for a much-needed "relaxant."
Or so we thought…
Nathan had the most spectacular public blowout of his short life — on the one occasion we've ever left a change of clothes behind.
We didn't even bother trying to salvage his attire.
Oh no, those suckers went straight into the bin, which I suspect the bin wasn't best pleased about.
And then, because apparently the universe wasn't finished with us that day, on the way back to our waterfront lodge, a glass bottle containing Nathan's milk decided it had lived long enough, rolled out of the bag, and shattered into a gazillion shards across a public play area.
Perhaps I shouldn't have been so strong on microplastics, after all… 🤔
Anyway, safe to say all Laura and I wanted was to get back to the lodge, draw the curtains, and raise both hands to whatever cosmic force had it in for us that day.
Surrender, we did.
But instead of lamenting our wounds in our pit of misery, we try to play a little game that's helped us many a time called:
How could this have been worse?
Because with Liam, it really could have been.
Should he have caught that corner square in his eye, we'd be having an entirely different conversation right now.
It's only when you sit with prospects such as this that, suddenly, the day's events look more like luck than disaster.
(Funny what a little third-person perspective can do, eh?)
That said, we're not levitating monks.
While gratitude is a mighty and woefully underutilised tool, sometimes the only true remedy to a bad day is to wait for the sun to rise on a new one.
But I'll be remiss not to say that a good movie or book can certainly help take your mind off things in the meantime.
So if you're battling strong headwinds right now, fret not, Legionnaire. Better days are ahead. However, if you want something more than warm words and a clap on the shoulder, then here's a series you can disappear into right now:
https://djjwatsonstore.com/products/TDR-Bundle
DJJW