The Demise of the Modern, Independent Woman

So this past weekend I was catching up on cleaning, and taking down Christmas decorations, and general tidying and organizing. I was also excited that I was getting to do some cooking (ahead for the week) and all the "get life organized" type things I had been wanting to do since the New Year and was too sick to do. And I was thinking of some tasks for this coming weekend when my parents (specifically, my father) would be here.

And then I started thinking about my general laziness, but also how some tasks are just easier to tackle with someone else (probably related to my general laziness) and how, despite the fact that I consider myself an independent, single, 30-year-old woman, and despite the fact that I consider myself "modern" in terms of a woman being able to do anything a man can, and despite the fact that I'm in a "non-traditional" career field, there are still tasks I designate as more the "man" tasks - as in, if I had a husband, he'd be doing them. But still I plug away, doing these things on my own, because I am STRONG WOMAN! (who only occasionally needs her dad ;) ).

And then I get to the cooking. A recipe I've been looking forward to making for about 2 months. Which requires a jar of sauerkraut. I get to the sauerkraut part. I remove the jar from the pantry. I try to undo the lid. I can't.

For the next TWENTY minutes, I try everything I can think of to try to get the lid off the jar of sauerkraut. I even (no, really, seriously, I did briefly seriously consider this) considered breaking the jar to scoop the sauerkraut out. (Sanity quickly returned and I realized I had no way of separating out the glass - as much as I thought I was just that good).

After twenty minutes I gave up. I refused to go knocking on doors looking for someone to open the jar. I just gave up. And decided that the recipe didn't really need the sauerkraut (though now? That I'm trying to eat it? It probably did.)

So here I am. Being (or trying to be) STRONG INDEPENDENT MODERN WOMAN all my life. And doing a fairly decent job. Only to meet my match. In the kitchen.

Modern, Independent Woman. Defeated. By a stubborn jar of sauerkraut.

That moment you feel your life changing forever...

I bought a lottery ticket last night. I'm trying to clean the house, so I stopped to check the numbers so I could throw it out.

I had the first number. Wow, this never happens.

I had the second number.

My heart actually stopped for a minute. I have the first two numbers! OMG! I've done it! I've won $16 million dollars! In that split second, where all breathing and beating of heart have stopped, I feel my life start to flip in a way I never imagined...

The third number? Nope.

Neither the 4th, 5th or 6th.

Not even a free ticket. Back to cleaning.

But that fraction of a second. That moment of heart stoppage. The lump in my throat. Never have I felt that way.

That was worth the $2. In the meantime, I am no less blessed than I was 5 minutes ago. And one more piece of paper can be thrown out.