You know how there are days when it seems that everything that can fall apart does exactly that? 

We've had several of those days in a row. And they make life quite interesting.

Not to say that we haven't managed to enjoy our Thanksgiving holiday immensely, because we really have...but circumstances have done their best to try to prevent that.

Long story short, we picked up a  3 day stomach bug last Tuesday that started with Dorien and ran through August and finally, Brooklyn.  We managed to spend a few days at our Farm with the rest of my family (when we thought we were all in the clear as far as viruses) that was thoroughly enjoyable...

until the rest of the family began falling victim to assorted bugs as well.  By this morning, just about every other person at the Farm was throwing up and running a fever or experiencing some other unpleasant symptom indicative of a virus. Dorien even had something hit him (again) so hard we almost took him to the ER! Fortunately, it didn't come to that.

Suffice it to say, early this morning, everyone abandoned ship at the Farm hours earlier than planned and returned to our respective houses. Right now, Brooklyn is nauseous and moaning. She doesn't handle sickness well. AT. ALL.

And to top it all off, today is Kyle's birthday!!! And to celebrate it, everything that can go wrong, has. 

Just about.

Returning Renee to Hendricks, Kyle unexpectedly got stuck in a random traffic snarl adding half an hour to his trip.  He was in line to return a movie at RedBox and as soon as he got up to the box, the whole machine shut down - out of order.  I managed to somehow knock off an antique flower planter in my bathroom, shattering it and spilling dirt absolutely everywhere. I made dinner for our family and Kyle and I were the only ones who ate it.  We piled in the car to go pick out our Christmas tree at Home Depot, only to find that they closed 10 minutes before we got there.  And we tried another choice which was, of course, also closed.   To make matters worse, Kyle is about to go out of town for 2 nights, making Wednesday the earliest we can get a tree. He's then out of town again the next two nights, leaving the decorating of our tree to next weekend! Once my kids realized this, they were so upset, as were Kyle and I.  

So to ease the disappointment, we drove through a frozen custard place (a rare treat for us) and placed our orders only to discover, as the lady was making them, that they only take cash or checks. 

We had a grand total of $6 cash on our persons and no checks.

At this realization, Kyle and I promptly burst into hysterical laughter, much to the dismay of the cashier. 

"Of course you only take cash or checks! It's just that kind of day!!!" 

She promptly quirked her eyebrow at us, closed her window and started making our custards. To which Kyle and I immediately began yelling and honking to get her attention - "Stop! Cancel the order!!! Or at least part of it!!!" She either didn't hear or ignored us. 

And when she opened her window next, she said, "Tell you what, do you live around here?" 

"Yes," we replied.

"Ok, give me the cash you have and come back in the next few days with the difference."

And she wrote the amount and our names on a card and gave us our order in full.

This little unexpected kindness was so huge to us, given the domino effect of unlucky events that have comprised this holiday week, that I almost cried. And hugged her. And offered to cook her a four course dinner. Or knit her a hat. Anything.

I doubt she expects us to return to pay her back, but you better believe I'm going to. That little bit of kindness was just what we needed today. And it possibly salvaged Kyle's birthday. 

In case you've had the same kinds of days, or things seem to just fall apart left and right...hang in there.  There is always a bright spot somewhere.  Something worth being thankful for. It could always be worse.