This past week has been a rollercoaster and has pushed me to dig deep and find the silver lining in a bad situation. On Monday night while I was teaching spin someone smashed the back window of my SUV and stole my workbag/purse. It had E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. in it. Computer, shoes, make-up, wallet, etc.

I have had a mix of emotions all week from being sad my workbag, wallet and make-up bag are gone, unfortunately they are gifts that cannot be replaced. To mad that some a**hole smashed my window and took items that were NOT theirs. And to top it off, spent THOUSANDS of dollars on my credit cards.

My husband and I have spent countless hours this week canceling accounts, cards, etc. It has been a headache. Like I had nothing better to do on week three of being back to work after maternity leave AND trying to plan our toddler’s birthday party.

I was quickly reminded by my amazing family, friends and co-workers, even complete strangers, that I should focus on the positive. They stole stuff. No one was hurt and no one died. Stuff can be replaced. And the situation pushed my husband and I to take action on things we had been putting off.

Less than 24-hours after the incident, my husband was working on installing our home security system. While keys and the garage door were not get taken in the theft, it shook me enough to want more protection than a locked door. This was also something we had been wanting to get for awhile, so it just pushed us to actually do it.

I had asked my husband if he knew what he was doing and he told me did. It seemed like a straight forward install. In our house, I usually have the ideas and my husband implements them. He is one of those men who does a lot of research and then hems and haws about things before making a purchase. I love that about him, but it also drives me nuts. I like to make decisions quickly and move on.

My husband kept asking me questions of where to put things (keypad, sensors, etc.). I told him I would need to read the directions before giving him any answers. The next thing I knew he was drilling holes in the wall. Things always feel so permanent when a drill is being used. So when I heard the drill, I peered around the corner, looked at the level and told him that it was crooked. AWESOME. He always loves comments from the peanut gallery [I’m being sarcastic]. He assured me he read the directions and knew what he was doing. Based on how long it was taking, I was not so sure about that.

An hour-and-a-half had passed and the install was still not complete, I was really wondering what in the world was taking so long. At one point I suggested he call the security company to get help. Of course he did not take my suggestion. Instead he messed around with the system for another hour and then finally called customer service. They had everything fixed in 10 minutes. It is times like that, that I wonder why he didn’t listen to me the first time. Like calling customer service an hour later somehow made it his idea instead of mine?

After he got off the phone, he was ready to show me how everything worked. I started asking questions and the response I got was, “I don’t know, I didn’t read that.” Um…pause. Hours ago, I was told he had read the manual [insert frustration].

I shared that house projects always take way longer than they need to. He told me that wasn’t nice. Agreed, probably not the nicest thing to say after he had just spent hours working on that, but I was pointing out my observation.

This week has reminded me how blessed I am to have amazing family, friends and co-workers. Even complete strangers have been so very helpful. I really wish I could turn back time and change a lot about Monday night, but I can’t. I learned a lot this past week. I hustled and dug deep to focus on things I could control. Things that bring joy and make me happy. While the situation sucked, I reminded myself that things could always be way worse.

Today we are having a Sunday Funday and pressing reset after the week we had. Our toddler turns three this week. He has been talking about his birthday since Christmas. Birthdays are always a big deal in our household and I cannot wait to celebrate the little guy. So here’s to a new week filled with celebrations!