the first try

Failure: 1
Me: 0

I got a toddler bed this weekend from someone in the ward. In my pursuit of trying things, doing things myself, being proactive, I was going to put the bed together myself. I did handy things before I was married. I can still do them.

So, when S and I got home from getting the girls to school we pulled all the pieces upstairs. We pulled out the instructions, and realized we had no hardware.

Failing on try 1. Obviously this is what I get for daring to "fail with glory" but you know what, it didn't feel very glorious. Note to self: ponder what "glory" really means.

I contacted the former owner of the bed, and she said she realized after she got home that she hadn't given me the hardware. So, later that afternoon I drove to her house (getting lost on the way, then almost being late to pick up my girls from school) to get the parts (and return the family pictures that had inadvertently been put with the bed parts).

We raced to get the girls from school, returned home, and the kids and I were going to build a bed! They got out their tool bag. There were tears, because everyone wants to believe the tools are not shared, but are "mine!" But by golly, I was going to build a bed! S and I talked about it. I promised.

As I pulled out the pieces it became clear: we were still missing parts. Fairly essential parts.

And then my time for achieving anything was done. I had to do the daily work of motherhood. No more glorious failures or successes today.

(My good husband made a phone call after he got home and the parts are being mailed to us by the manufacturer. So, he solved the problem for me after all.)