Broken-hearthed

This morning, our fireplace hearth went from this

The way it looked when I woke up on Monday morning.

To this:

The way it looked at 10:00 a.m. on Monday. NOT the way it was supposed to be.

Our hearth is truly broken.

We do not seem to be moving in a forward direction. And I'm trying, really I am, to be more "zen" about life. But it ain't easy, let me tell you.

On top of this fireplace catastrophe-that-will-never-end, I'm having trouble connecting to our work VPN (so working from home is not going as effectively as it ought), and all the dozens of photos I uploaded to my mother's birthday album are corrupted, so I have to start over.

In our parenting course this week, we watched a video by Dr. Marsha Linehan about radical acceptance. While watching the video, it all made perfect sense, though even then we knew that it would be easier said than done.

The principles are:

• Accept reality for what it is. Stop fighting it or denying it.
• Everything has a cause. Not necessarily a good cause or something we like, but something caused this intolerable situation.
• Life can be worth living, even when things suck.

What I feel like doing is stomping my feet and ranting. This sucks. But that, I remind myself, will get me nowhere.

So, following the principles of Radical Acceptance:

• The hearth is broken and will be repaired. Work will get done one way or another, and the photo book will get done eventually - all the work is not lost.
• These things all happened for a number of reasons. Can't change the past, so let it go.
• Life is still good. I have my coffee, a warm house, a full fridge.

Ugh. This is starting to sound a little "Pollyanna," but if it helps me keep my mood up and my blood pressure down, then it's all good, right?