Counseling And Choking On A Cornflake

You know, you'd think I would know better. You would think I would know that just because a day starts out normally doesn't mean it will necessarily end that way. There's always a little bit of something different going on here at Sprinkleshouse.

For example, the other day I was sitting around talking to my friend Rachel. It had been, aside from the sweltering heat, an ordinary day. Kids were watching SpongeBob, Grover was at work, and Rachel was in her room on the phone with her sister, while I was sitting in there watching TV and eating some delicious Apple Cinnamon Cornflakes. I don't use milk in my cereal, because I don't like milk. So I was eating it dry, right out of the box and it was wonderful.........until I swallowed a cornflake the wrong way. It got stuck in my throat and it felt like one of the little corners of it was just stabbing me right in the tonsil area. I couldn't get it loose. I started to cough, at first delicately,( because Heaven forbid I choke loudly and run the risk of embarrasment) and then that made it even worse, and I started coughing and couldn't stop. It felt like I couldn'tbreathe, (but of course I could because if I couldn't I wouldn't have been able to cough) and I was coughing and heaving and gagging and I ran into the bathroom (I don't know why either) and when I left Rachel's room, then and only then did she realize that there was a problem. She (finally!) came in there and hit me in the back and knocked it loose for me. I thought it would end there but nooooooo.......turns out I had coughed so hard that it made me lose my voice! I walked around croaking for the next 24 hours and my throat was sooooo sore I couldn't swallow anything stronger than soup. I'm doing much better now even though I am still eyeing those cornflakes with deep suspicion, not to mention animosity. Darn, raggedy cornflakes. (Anything I don't like I call raggedy by the way.) Maybe I'll start using milk now. Who'd have thunk it?

Speaking of who'd have thunk its, Grover and I have been going to couples counseling for about a month now (nice segue huh?) He's been working too hard outside the home and I have been working too hard inside the home and we were just under way too much pressure. We weren't headed for divorce court or anything (man, I do love that TV show though) but we just kind of needed to regroup. Neither one of us thought we would like counseling but turns out we LOVE it. We work with a "care couple" through our church(Bonnie and Doug) and they have been just wonderful. Of course, they have been married for 35 years so they've been through a whole lot more than Grover and I have. It's really nice to have an objective ear to listen to you. Not to mention the fact that you get to sit in a nice air conditioned office on a nice, cool leather couch and be away from your kids for an hour a week, for free. Not to mention the fact that it has really helped us to regroup and destress. Like my favorite former prisoner Martha Stewart always says :"It's a good thing!"

Now, if it would just rain, cool off, or rain AND cool off, things would be pretty close to perfect these days. Thank You , Jesus for a good life!

If only I can stay away from the cornflakes. Maybe I should switch to oatmeal.

Peace alllllll.....................