The Silver Lining of a Broken Refrigerator

This morning, Dave mentioned that his can of pop for work didn't feel as cold as it normally does.  Dave is somewhat (completely) finicky about his pop, so I didn't think too much about it, until I went to get eggs for breakfast.

I had great plans for a delicious breakfast this morning.

Unfortunately, Dave's statement about his pop also applied to the eggs. And eggs that have been only slightly cool for who-knows-how-long seemed like a dangerous choice for breakfast, which led me back to the refrigerator, where I discovered that it was not cold at all.

My heart sank.

Not only had I just completed a major grocery shopping trip last Friday intended to last us two weeks, but we had tons of Easter leftovers as well.  Not to mention the awesome breakfast I had been planning on, involving milk, eggs, and cheese.  Little cinnamon rolls, too, but that's beside the point.

I frantically started pulling all of the salvageable food out of our fridge and into cooler bags, while the kids stared, open-mouthed.  In the back of my head, I heard little bells go off that this could trigger a response from them.  In the past, they've been in situations where if things went wrong, it was serious.  It wasn't just an inconvenience, it meant that they could likely go without things they needed.

However, in the midst of trying to figure out what to do with breakfast, how to pack their school lunches, and trying to save what I could of two week's worth of groceries, I told them that we would talk on the way to school, but they needed to save their questions and get ready for school first, even though in our routine we always have breakfast first.

"But Mom," Isaac said, "I know this is probably a question, but we haven't had breakfast!  What are we going to do?"

I told him not to worry, and sent him upstairs.

A few minutes later, they were back downstairs, dressed and ready for school (in record time, I might add!) and wanting to discuss everything again.  I still didn't have time to chat if I was going to get everything figured out in time to get them to school, and I was thinking a bit about how much trust I could ask of them - did they need reassurance beyond, "It'll be ok" right then, or would they be able to trust my word?

Isaac had a worried look on his face as he once again started asking about breakfast.  I could see he needed more reassurance, and was about to forgo packing the veggies for the freezer to talk to him, when Andy stepped up to the plate.

"Isaac," he started.  "Has Mom ever let us starve?"

"Well, no!" Isaac responded, somewhat indignantly.

"Well, I doubt she's going to start now.  Don't worry, she'll figure it out.  She just needs to focus like she tells us to do when we're working on a problem.  She's not going to let us starve."

Those were big words of trust coming from a kid who's had so many people let him down in his life. And my heart melted, much like my previously frozen soup.

We are incredibly blessed.  A broken fridge is a major inconvenience, frustration, and expense, but by the grace of God, it's not life-altering.  We can afford to go get more milk.  And to hear Andy reassure Isaac that I would find a way to take care of them in the middle of something that felt unsettling to them was a blessing to my heart.

Step by step, day by day, we're growing closer.   Andy beamed with pride when I later told him how proud I was of him for being such a good big brother.  And Isaac smiled pretty big when I complimented him on not panicking, but just asking questions.  Those are big steps for my boys.  And I'm a proud mama, even if my fridge is still broken.