Musings, with ketchup

This came from that same, slightly controversial summer, in a moment of peace:

So, it's lunch time on the overnight, about quarter after four in the morning, and I am drowning my meatloaf with a couple of ketchup packets and thinking...

Nothing deep, just reviewing the past few weeks in my head.  Questions and answers are chasing each other around my desk, tripping over the radio base and my myriad of pens.  What will Becca's first day of school be like for her?  Will the Comcast guy show up on time to install my phone?  Will it be warm enough for one last swim lesson of the season on Sunday?  What will winter be like this year?  How long before the next step in the whole divorce process?  Why does the generic ketchup taste better than the name brands? 

Yeah, stuff like that...

It's been a long month, and I am drawn to look back to a year ago, to ponder where I was then and what things I set in motion way back then.  But, as each day passes, it's not the major things that get to you.  Everything, my friend pointed out today, whether big or small, happens to us one day at a time.  When we come up against something and say "how am I going to do that, how can I last a moment longer, I can't take it?" the answer is "you're already doing it, one day at a time"... and it's true. 

Yes, sometimes we get pissed off and feel overwhelmed, but if we take those feelings a day at a time, we come up with a day like this past Sunday, where I got my guitar out for Becca once again when we discovered a tune in the back of one of her bedtime stories.  So I did my best to play and learn the song:

Five little ducks went out one day, over the hills and far away. 

Mother duck said "Quack, quack, quack" but only four little ducks came waddling back...

Ever felt that way?  Yeah, thinking you have all your ducks in a row and they mysteriously come up missing.  The verses go on until the ducklings are all gone.  But the lesson is in finishing.  If you sing through the whole song and have patience until the end:

Sad mother duck went out one day, over the hills and far away. 

Mother duck cried "Quack, quack, quack" and all five little ducks came waddling back!

Becca loved that part, where the duckies came back.  So, as I look for another ketchup packet (sorry, this stuff is just GOOD) I feel like I'm missing a few duckies, but I have to keep going out every day and doing what I do, and calling them back at the end of the day.  The night may come occasionally when I sleep without my ducklings. 

But by the time another year has passed, they will back in a row where they belong.  Because I'm doing things one day at a time.  Tomorrow, phone calls, and the library.  Thursday, a bit of blessed rest and waiting for the cable guy.  And so on.  Until next Thursday when I get to sing to Becca again.  Maybe I'll play the song for myself before then :)

     Ah, another activity for tomorrow: prewashing the ketchup out of my uniform shirt.