It was a normal (and mundane) Tuesday night, we were watching The Voice and snuggled up on our new couch after dinner. The dogs were curled up on our laps and under the covers… all was right in the Kutcher home. It was the picture perfect evening, until we heard a growl. Our dogs can be the best of friends and the worst of enemies. We like to blame the fact that they were Kentucky street dogs before finding a place in our home but sometimes hell breaks loose and they play fight their way into craziness. We usually just split them up and the quarrel ends, so I not so elegantly shoved Tuck to Drew’s side of the couch (more of a gentle toss) and then there was the biggest wine explosion we had ever seen. Drew had just poured the last of a bottle of cabernet into his wine glass and in the toss of a dog it was EVERYWHERE. I’m talking curtains, floors, couch, blankets, pillows, and his eyeballs. It was one of those moments where you could laugh or cry… after a minute delay, I chose to laugh. I laughed so hard my stomach hurt and my eyes were watering (Drew was still blinded by the wine so he thought I had lost my mind.)
We quickly went into clean up mode and were thankful we got that insurance plan on our couch should we need to use it. Slowly but surely we cleaned up the red wine from every square inch of our living room and attempted to rid our home of every deep red stain. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a little blob running around the house and then I lost it, Tucker was absolutely dyed red… he was covered in cabernet and I have never laughed so hard. Looks like someone was due for a bath (and not a wine bath, an actual one.)
You know what? Life is a lot like our cabernet incident. Just when you are settled and feeling alright, something has a way of sweeping the (wine covered) rug out from under your feet… you can either laugh or cry. You can live in fear of the explosion or you can appreciate when all is right in your world (even better, you can rejoice in the mess of it all.) You can scrub and scrub away the stains or you can let the residue remind you of what you’ve encountered and been through. Either way, you’ve got to pick yourself up, clean up, and keep going (don’t forget to rinse the wine covered dog off, too.) You can be mad that your pants are potentially ruined or you can be grateful that you have enough money in your bank account to go buy a brand new pair. That whole “don’t sweat the small stuff” jargon, it’s true and it’s real and when we apply it to our lives. We are infinitely happier because we can see beyond the mess and rejoice in the fact that we have health and wine and a house and each other. Don’t cry over spilt wine, friends, just laugh until you cry, kick your problems in the gut, and move on. Each and every time it spills, you have a choice: accept it and clean it up or let it stain and inhibit you. Today you make the call, do you cry or do you laugh. Let’s choose joy, let’s laugh it off together, shall we?
Photo by our fave: Chloe Ann Photography
This post was exactly what I needed to read this morning. You have such a beautiful way of telling your story while still bringing your readers around to seeing the bigger picture of things with a little advice sprinkled in between. Thanks for sharing your messy, but hilariously wonderful, story. Good luck with getting the stain out of that pretty couch of yours!
I am laughing thinking about you laughing!