Man, we sure are Lucky...?

As someone with a degree in English, I know that words and phrases can have different meanings dependent upon the tone of someone's voice. (I also know this as someone who has gotten into a lot of trouble over the years for her "tone".)

Take the phrase-man we sure are lucky.
For most this phrase is said in a very positive and upbeat tone. It could be talking about how fortunate someone is to have won the lottery, or how lucky they are to have found something brand new at a great discount, or maybe even that they were just given a new car as a gift!

However, when my family says, man we sure are lucky, it can almost certainly be taken in a slightly more negative, typically sarcastic, tone. Meaning, how lucky we are to have a flat tire at 5:00 in the morning, or how lucky we are to have picked out 2 discontinued baby beds. And of course, man we sure are lucky to have the transmission go out in Kevin's truck for the 4th time!!

It is this last one that has prompted the writing of this post.

I have been sick this entire week. Those of you who have been pregnant and sick know how crappy this really is. All of the GOOD medicine will hurt the baby, coughing hurts your stomache even more now that there is more of it to effect, and just because you can breathe through your nose while laying on your right side, does not mean that the baby is going to agree with that decision. He is most certain, actually, to disagree! Anyhow, Wednesday was the worst day of my sickness, and Kevin stayed home to take care of me. I decided early that we should make the trip to Madisonville to get Dad to work on me. So, of course, half way between Bryan and Madisonville, with me coughing and sniffling and altogether uncomfortable, the transmission goes out in Kevin's truck. This means that we make the rest of the 20 minute ride at 40 miles an hour, on the bumpy shoulder!! YAY!! Man, we sure are lucky. As I said, this has happened 3 other times. So, we begin to try and determine if the transmission is still under warranty. We quickly determine that it is not! Man, we sure are lucky. How much is this going to cost? We begin to figure that it will cost at least $1500. Man we sure are lucky. I guess we are not going to pay off our credit card bill (getting one step closer to debt free) with our tax refund. Man we sure are lucky. We then spent the next 4 hours in Madisonville waiting for Dad to finish with patients so we could figure out how to get the truck home, or wherever it should be taken to get fixed. (Remember that I am sick) Man we sure are lucky. Now, I am usually positive and Kevin is always negative, so he immediately begins the, 'I am such a bad husband. We are never going to have any money...blah...blah...blah! This is when I have to kick in the postive thinking and cheer him up. -but this really does kinda suck! We had been planning to get this credit card paid off with our refund for the last six months.

Then it hit me. Man we sure are lucky...

What are the odds that Kevin's truck would break down on a day that he was already off of work? He actually had the time to call around and get pricing and suggestions as to what he should do. Man, we sure are lucky! What are the odds that this happened on Wednesday, and we received our tax return on Tuesday? Man, we sure are lucky! What are the odds that even though we had been planning for six months to pay the credit card bill, that I wouldn't have paid it as soon as we got the money? Man, we sure are lucky! Then, Dad's last patient, (which I was complaining about becuase they were 30 minutes late) happened to have owned an auto shop for years before retiring, and knew the name and cell phone number of their "best builder" guy. Not only that, but he was able to take the truck that day and should have it fixed by Monday, for half of the price everyone else quoted us! Man, we sure are lucky.

Throughout this I definitely learned that there is always a good side to every situation. It would have been very easy for Kevin and I both to have conceded defeat and had this ruin our day, week, and maybe more. But, Man, WE SURE ARE LUCKY!