27 Hours...

That's how long the quilt was on the bed before it was stained.  Honestly, I knew it would happen eventually.  I thought it most likely that one of the pets would get a small cut and bleed on it.  Never did I imagine a fluorescent blue spot.

In an effort to cool our dog after an afternoon walk, my husband wrapped a blue ice pack in a towel and placed it beside her on the bed.  Unfortunately, it leaked.  Although we've used it dozens of times before, this is the time it broke.

My husband was so upset that he had ruined our quilt.  I tried to convince him it's not that big a deal.  Either it would come out or we would have a funny story to tell one day.  After all, no one died.  It's just a quilt.  We looked on the internet and most of what we read recommended repeated washings.  And after 7 cycles through the washing machine, you can barely tell it's there.  In fact, I had a hard time even getting it to show up in a picture.

My husband and I know where it is so we can spot it, but only after carefully looking for it.  I imagine if someone didn't know it had happened, they would never notice it.  And maybe one day, far in the future, my husband will eventually be able to think back and laugh over it.

Simplifying is really about choices - prioritizing what is important - and then sticking to those choices no matter how tempting it is to add more to your to-do list. In fact, take those tempting activities and put them on a list of things not to do. 

 By Rick Warren