Think positive, dammit!

Tim has really got to stop calling me in the middle of the night with sentences like "Don't get mad" and "You're not going to like this." It's enough to stop a girl's heart!


The first one -- "Don't get mad" -- was actually positive. He had been cast into the role of taxi for his brother, and had won $200 at a casino off $20. The second, unfortunately, was to announce that he had $30 leftover from said $200.


Yep, $170 gone in under 24 hours. Given that it was also about 3 a.m. my time, I did not react well to it.


To be fair, the bachelor party changed drastically from its original inception. Suffice to say, the bride came along, not having a party of her own. And, late at night in downtown Seattle, there's not a lot of cheap eats to be had.


Honestly, in his position, I don't know how much differently I would have done things. There aren't a lot of ways to tell you're best friend you won't pay for the woman he's about to marry. Especially when it's a one-time celebration. So a good time was had by all, but Tim ended up spending significantly more than expected.


But I wasn't there. I was in bed, half awake, and feeling utterly powerless. So I had a hard time processing anything other than the amount that was gone.


I just felt hopeless. I'm sure we've all been there: It seems that you are constantly hitting setbacks, no matter how hard you try. I had gotten my hopes up, and they had been dashed.


It didn't help that I was still exhausted from getting the house ready for the pest control guys. I've actually had to take a nap every day for the past three days. That's not supposed to happen when I take my energy medication routinely.


At any rate, there was a lot of crying and frustration.


I woke up the next day feeling better -- I'm sure sleep and venting had a lot to do with that. I also began to realize just how many things Tim was up against. His brother had kindly woken him up after two hours of sleep. And there was a lot of excitement/stimuli around that night, being with his friends and going to a loud place like Gameworks. That makes it hard for Tim to keep his impulsivity in check.


So, while I'm still frustrated by the results, I'm trying to think positively. The fact is, we're still about $60 ahead of where I expected. Tim will need to spend $10-20 on gas before dropping the car off. But we still come out ahead.


And even if the bachelor party had gone as planned, I hadn't counted on just how much driving Tim would have been doing, so the original estimate of $100 wasn't enough. By my count, we will have saved about $90, despite all the unexpected costs. (That's not even including the $20 we're saving on a rental car with a code from the Entertainment book.)


It's still hard not to let my mind drift to "What if" scenarios. But that way madness lies. I need to just be thankful that these unexpected costs didn't come out of pocket. And that we're still ahead of what had been planned.


I figure if I just keep repeating this mantra, the actual thought process will get easier over time.


How do you deal with disappointing results that are still better than they should have been?