Jay vs The Cosmos...1 to Zip.

A few days ago my Jada got up early and got herself ready for the two birthday parties she was to attend later that day.  She wanted to look her very very best, so she took a shower and asked me to blow dry her hair straight.  She carefully smoothed it out and placed a headband with a bow on top...picked the perfect shoes, drew hearts and flowers on the white wrapping papered gift, and off we went.

We decided to walk because the first party was only two and a half blocks away.  Being that its January, the streets have been packed with snow and ice for weeks, but the temperatures have finally started warming and thus the streets have been melting into rivers and slush.  It turned out to be a bit of a treacherous little jaunt. We had to carefully navigate from ice patch to ice patch to avoid getting our shoes and pant bottoms soaked or muddy.  We made it to about 10 feet away from the house where the party was being held when Jada got a bit excited and hurried up ahead.  The thing is...there was this huge icy puddle in the middle of the sidewalk that she failed to notice. She ended up in the splits up to her hips in the giant muddy puddle with her carefully decorated present drowning in the water beside her.  Her beautifully straightened hair had gotten splashed only on one side, and as we walked home to get her changed, her hair turned to its natural wavy curl...but only on the right side.  When we walked in the house and shut the door she said, as she stood there dripping wet still and freezing and pathetic, "WHY TODAY!? Of all days to fall in a big puddle...TODAY!" I couldn't help but smile and giggle a little because she had worked sooooo hard to look 'super cute' for her party and there she was...so close! So close...

She did get changed and managed to make it to the party anyway and enjoyed herself, but poor Jada got stuck with the bad luck that day.  While its amusing to just watch as a spectator, I know how frustrating that is.  Fortunately for me, it seems that when things like that happen to me it is of no significant consequence on which day it occurred.  Like the time I stepped on the edge of the sidewalk while carrying the baby and fell right into the big water puddle on our non-draining new sod. . .or the time I slipped on the ice after seeing the kids' school Christmas performance and accidentally threw my 1 year old onto the street as I went down...luckily she wasn't permanently scarred in either incident, but I think it might explain why she wants to just 'walk herself' now that she is 3.  Neither of those things happened on a day when I needed things to go just right, so I don't think its just a matter of perspective and attitude.  I wonder sometimes, though, if the cosmos aligns all the stars just right as a test to see what sort of reaction we will have when it really matters to us.  I think Jada passed admirably. She brushed it off and went on to have a great day... I was impressed with the 'bounce back' despite the disappointing fall...she still smiled and laughed a little at her circumstance, which could have easily been all tears.  Way to go kid...you've got the cosmos down 1 to Zip.