There is nothing like waking up New Year’s Day with a head full of fun, foggy memories, and feeling grateful for everything in your life – your family and friends being on the top of that list.

It was nearly 11:00 am before us Torreys were all up and ready(ish) to face the day. We had just a few goals for the first day of the year and we could do all of them in our pajamas – perfection. We needed to clean up the house from our New Year’s Eve festivities, take down the Christmas tree, and eat all the calories in our kitchen before New Year’s Resolution #1 could begin.

Everything was going according to plan until we heard Anna yell, “Mom, there’s water pouring out of the ceiling!”

Happy New Year!!?!

We’ve been through this before. Our second floor washing machine pipes are a little too close to the outside wall, and seem to enjoy finding the least opportune time to freeze and burst. We thought we had resolved the issue two years ago. We hadn’t.

I know our family has the reputation of being optimistic and flexible and calm and easy-going, but trust me, when there is water dripping from our ceiling, we are none of those things. “Fu#k” was the word of choice as we all ran around the house – water shut off, towels thrown all over the floor, large pots trying to catch the stream. Our plumber almost laughed when we called him, “Pipes are bursting all over town. No way I can see you any time soon.”

We called another plumber . . . and another. “Maybe by the end of the week.” was the best answer we got.

Fu#k!!!!

I was convinced that 2018 was going to unravel. That somehow what happened in the first day of the year would determine how the year would play out. Our house was going to fall apart, we would need to spend Anna’s college fund to pay for repairs, and we would never have access to clean clothes again.

It took a few hours, a lot of swearing and a good look at what we were dealing with before we calmed down. It wasn’t so bad. We had shut the water off before any real damage was done. The plumber will come by the end of the week and fix the issue and we have an old washing machine in the basement so we don’t need to be smelly.

By mid-afternoon New Year’s Day, our house was clean, the Christmas decorations were neatly stored in the basement and we were sitting in front of Netflix eating ridiculous amounts of lasagna, cookies, and peppermint bark (I hate whoever brought that into our house).

2018 wasn’t ruined.

I stopped believing in karma, destiny and fate years ago. How could I believe in such things? I’ve seen too much pain and suffering throw around great people to credit anything but chance.

Our pipe burst because it’s been super cold — bad luck. We were able to get the water shut off before the ceiling caved in — good luck! We had an awesome New Year’s Eve with a pile of festive friends — good luck! Jack and Anna are both healthy and doing great as we start the new year — good luck! One of our so-called friends brought not one, but two boxes of peppermint bark — bad luck.

It’s a new year. 365 days and some will be great, some crappy. My newest resolution is that I will take each day as it comes. I can’t promise there will be no cursing, but I think I can do this!

Wishing everyone a decent 2018 with more good days than bad!!!

Love, Jess

P.S. Peppermint Bark = 13 points on Weight Watchers;(