What Happened to the Chair?

 

It was the summer after I returned home from my mission. I got a job through a temp agency working as an assistant at a mortgage company. I sat at the back of a long line of cubicles. One day, I was rolling backwards to reach a file, and the chair toppled right over. Head over heels. In a dress. It was awesome. The next day, one of the young handsome employees said to me, "Hey, Valerie, do you know how quiet it was yesterday? So quiet, we could hear an assistant drop!"

The last couple of months have felt like that for me. Everything was going in a humdrum sort of way, and then, without warning, the chair toppled. It started in early May when our ward (congregation)was dissolved. The same week that we had scheduled our big camp fundraiser, an activity and a temple trip, or ward was disbanded. Luckily, all the young women stayed in together in the new ward, but the young women's president was now in a different one. For several weeks there was no young womens presidency. I turned in my keys and manuals and looked forward to attending Relief Society again. Except each week, those of us who had served in young womens were asked to help out. And fundraiser money still needed to be collected. So I lived in limbo.

In the midst of this, we got  letter saying our landlord would not let us remain in our apartment. We had been discussing this with her for a few months, and had no indication that we would not be allowed to remain. So that was unexpected. It seemed we were faced with a ton of choices, should we stay in the area, or move further out? Keep renting an apartment and pay off debt aggressively, or rent a house, and make slower progress? And the rental market was glutted, so it was hard to find anything at all.

On top of that I had a crazy month planned for June: rehearsals and an orchestra concert, a piano recital, a trip to visit my grandmother, all within a few weeks of each other. Moving was not what I had planned.

Of course I knew intellectually it would all work out, but that didn't stop the sleepless nights, or the stress. I don't like change. Not even good change. And this was alot at once.

But as he always does, the Lord picked me up, dusted me off,  and gave me gentle pushes in the right direction. Doors opened. Graton was offered overtime which helped cover the expenses of moving. We ran into our neighbors who had moved away but were coming back to close on their condo next door to us. They agreed to give our name and number to the property investors that were purchasing their lovely home. We met and loved the new landlords, and were thrilled with all the renovations and upgrades that the new condo had. They even put in a dishwasher. It's not even a full size one, but it has seriously changed my life! And even though the, and the floor plan was different, we somehow managed to fit our furniture into the new place. When you've only got 700 square feet to work with, things can be a bit dicey, but we made it work. It's quieter, more private, more peaceful and easier to keep clean. Lovely!

I was called to be the Young Womens president, which I love so much! The girls are so wonderful, my counselors so fantastic. And somehow the calling has filled something that was missing for me. Helped me find balance as a stay-at-home Mom, given expression to my love of organizing and directing things, unlocked my inner teenager :)

So to summarize: Everything was going well, then it all fell apart, and now it's better than before. Which is pretty much the story of my life. Over and over. Maybe someday I'll get it, and learn to just trust God and enjoy the ride.