by Andrea Brown

Created on: June 17, 2008

Baby crying Paper due tomorrow Printer not working Husband awaiting surgery for kidney stones Husband finding work Unpaid bills Increasing debt Paying for grad school Not spending enough time with my children Losing the weight from my pregnancy . . . .

My worries are millions of insects invading my body. They are clamps tightening the muscles in my neck, through my shoulders,and down my back. But if this is as bad as it gets, I can handle it.

I am addicted to Dateline and 20/20. I see horror stories of losing a spouse to desease, an accident, or murder. Even worse, I see people who lose children to these horrible tragedies. In comparison, my worries are fleas. I remind myself of how blessed I am. I pray this will not happen to me. I worry that it will.

There are many who believe that God never gives you more than you can handle. When I can't control the things in my life and feel that mentally I am breaking down, it comforts me to think maybe this is as bad as it will get.

A car accident - 45 mph - head on - no airbags. I survived. Everyone involved survived. A second car accident - another totaled car - sued by the other party involved. Everyone survived. My husband being laid off from job after job after job -we still have our house. Money is just money. My husband in a car accident - he survived. Pregnancies in which I throw up all day, every day - all healthy babies. One child becomes ill with pnemonia. Another a breathing disease. They will survive. I lost a front tooth, and the temporary kept falling out over and over again. My wisdom teeth were impacted and became infected. My husband had two ulcers in his eye. My husband has kidney stones and is awaiting surgery. But we were and can be fixed.

As these types of things constantly happen. One after another. And we never seem to get a break. As I begin to feel we are cursed. Or there is never a time where everything is just normal and ok. I remember, if this is as bad as it gets - keep it coming. If this is as bad as it gets - we are blessed.

I force those worries out of me. I thrust them out of my body with such force that they shatter, turn to dust, and vanish into the atmosphere. I laugh with my daughters. We dance. We speak in funny voices. I disappear into our world of magic, where worries don't exist and know I can handle anything with my family.

Learn more about this author, Andrea Brown.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.