Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Apoplectic Fits, Tears and Blessings

I slept today.

The baby went down for her afternoon nap and so did I, wiped out by the tumultuous emotions of the past 16 hours. I woke up only slightly when my husband lifted the pillow off of my head and whispered that our tiny niece or nephew's heart had stopped beating after only several weeks. I cried myself back to sleep.

The nap wasn't as refreshing as I had hoped it would be, but the News put our crazy evening into perspective.

We picked up our 8 year old from flag football practice yesterday evening to the surprising information that, since their first coach left for another school, they didn't do football so much anymore.

"So what are you doing, exactly, for two hours in the afternoon," I asked him, as I thought of the $100.00 check I wrote out a week ago at the flag football display table at school registration. In the memo, I wrote "flag football." There was no question as to what we were signing up for.

"We play games, and sit around," he answered. Excellent. When were the Friday games going to begin? He didn't know. Why weren't they playing football? He didn't know.

"You need to call," I said to my husband. "I didn't pay for an afterschool babysitting service."

That was stressor number one.

The second occurred at the grocery store. We piled the groceries in the cart at such a rate that only happens after a paycheck has been deposited and posted to our account. We try to buy enough that will limit our trips there in between, because the 3.00 gallon of milk generally ends up being $60.00 worth of crap we didn't know we needed before we walked through those sliding glass doors.

I slid my debit card through to pay for the items and heard an unfamiliar beep. I looked down.

In bold letters, I read, "Declined. Insufficient Funds." Truly, this was a dumbfounding, what-the-frack moment, as I had spent the better part of my afternoon on our online banking account, paying bills and balancing the checkbook.

"It's a mistake, Mary, it will be okay," my husband said, using the smooth, calming voice that could also be used for someone who was about to jump off a bridge.

His blood pressure performed the same acrobatics later that evening when, upon investigating and speaking to customer service and the bank's resolution center (with individuals who needed a review in how to treat customers), we discovered that the bank had decided to debit out the payroll check and put a hold on the deposit for seven days.

Seven days. The implications were horrifying , as I thought of the bills I had paid because in Mary's world, it was business as usual. In the bank's world, however, the paycheck that we had been depositing into this same account for two months raised some sort of red flag, although it was a local check and the bank it was written from was literally across the street from our current bank.

"Where is the check, physically," he asked the vice president the branch this morning. "Because I will come over there and pick it up, take it across the street and cash it, then bring the cash back to you people." You idiots, he meant.

I began to hyperventilate as I looked at the fees that had accrued so far online, and was on the verge of becoming apoplectic as I thought of the possibility of the bank actually returning checks and refusing to pay items as they came through. I don't do apoplectic well.

Chris eyed me warily as I began to weep. Aware of the implications of this situation both to his wife and the finances, he visibly put on the Army officer hat and began telling the unfortunate individual on the other end what she was going to do.

"You will fix this," he ordered. "You will take this hold off of my paycheck, and you will remove all the fees that you have charged us because of your error."

The scrambling on the other end was quite apparent.

I realized, yet again, how much I love my husband. I thanked God for him at that very moment and realized how blessed I am to have someone who takes care of his family with a protectiveness that is the indication of a real man.

My tears turned from desperate to thankful and continued throughout the day as a weariness set in after the climax of our emotional roller coaster.

The tears then turned to sad this afternoon at the news of my little niece or nephew of whom God decided not to bless us with at this moment in our lives. And I prayed that He would, in His grace, give us the possibility of another again soon .

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am truly blessed to have you for a daughter (in law). You are such a caring person! Love you!!!!

Pat

Tom and Margit said...

You are so sweet. Gabriel has a sibling with him watching over us.

Love you!
Margit

Anonymous said...

You are such a doll - Your post gave is so dear. I also cried this afternoon after receiving a text from Margit, telling me the little one would not be coming. I was sitting in my office at work, I got up, shut the door - and took some time with my heavenly Father. And like you, part of that conversation was spent asking that the blessing of another babe be bestowed upon Margit and our family.
kris

brent said...

I miss Officer Chris. I have needed him of late, too! Peace, blessings, and prayers to you all. We love ya!

Brent (and Team Osborne)