To be, or not to be...

I feel I need to explain the picture up above as well as the Murphy title. I know that many people adopt the saying that 'If I didn't have bad luck, I wouldn't have any at all'. In my particular case, my life is indeed a comedy of errors. It began at birth and it will more than likely continue on until the fat lady is singing her heart out. I was born in a little shack of a house with only my mother and the flies on the walls for company, so you see I am quite sincere in that statement.

The Money Pit

Since January 1st, my furnace has gone out twice (no problem found each $75 visit from the repairman); the well pump stopped working and it cost me another $70 for them to tell me it had lost it's prime (had the entire unit replaced last year for $900- so imagine my surprise when it quit); my large upright freezer quit costing hundreds of dollars in lost food; the water pipes in the walls of the pool house busted even though I had turned off the water and drained the lines (discovered that the shut off valve has a leak and water remained in the pipes);

{deep inhalation as we continue}

the control valve on top of the pool's sand filter cracked open and I lost not only water out of the pool, but flooded the pool's pump house; someone stepped on my vacuum hose for the pool and broke the connectors; turned on the electrical breakers for the electricity in the building out back to hear a loud pop, then smoke exiting the breaker box; the pipes to the outside spigot ruptured in the garage (more flooding) and ran the well dry before I could discover it;

{whew}

the vacuum cleaner died; a huge tree-sized limb fell in the front yard out into the road necessitating the use of power equipment, but the chain saw had been run dry by my loving son the last time used and I had to have it serviced to include a new chain before getting the thing cut up- used a reciprocating saw with 300 ft of extension cords to run the dang thing so I could at least get the stuff in the road cut up; what started out as a sinus infection the first week of the new year turned into bronchitis, and ended with laryngitis-much to the delight of those around me-but then it triggered a bout of autoimmune inflammation with a visit to a third and final doctor for more steroids; the toilet in my bathroom started leaking-put in a new wax ring-so now it leaks worse than before.

Amen.

Remember, we are less than 4 weeks into the new year. So you see, I AM Murphy, though that is not my name by birth or marriage or by the many people who are scared to ride in an elevator with me. It is a family curse. I've told the kids for years that we are being punished for some infraction of a relative in the past and like the biblical characters of old, we are being cast into the desert of woe until atonement for the transgression has been completed. So we wait patiently for the curse to be lifted and wake up every day with the mind and body on high alert.

And....the wonderful picture is of my youngest grandson. Born seven years after my daughter had her tubes tied to prevent further population growths. Sometimes Murphy's Law screws up and turns out quite amazing results, doesn't it?