Humble Appreication

A good friend of mine just had her life instantly devastated. While traveling to Michigan two weeks ago to visit relatives, her teenage son lost control of their vehicle. As a result she and her husband suffered very serious injuries. They underwent emergency surgeries out of state and will now spend the rest of the summer in the hospital and then at her parents' house in Michigan which is thousands of miles away from her own home. Now, you need to understand that my friend is a very well put together, organized, confident, gorgeous and charming woman. I have always marveled at her and her beautiful life. But once I knew that she was going to survive this accident, I was truly concerned for her emotional health because I knew that being so uprooted and out of control of her life would literally drive her crazy. But I couldn't have been more wrong. When I visited her for a few moments at the hospital last night, she clutched my hand tightly and through tears simply said she was so grateful to be alive. That's it. She wasn't sorry for herself, though she has a good right to be. Earlier in the day, I visited her room and heard her agonizing screams and moans while nurses moved her slightly and then asked me to return later. My friend will likely have chronic pain for the rest of her life. But still, her tears were from the total relief that she is still here. She has a second shot at life. Now, I'm embarrassed to admit that I've done a fair amount of complaining and whining in this blog. When things are going pretty darn well, we have the luxury of seeing life as a glass half empty. And though I won't, I could start training to run a marathon today while my friend may never fully walk or run again. We all get these JOLTS in life. They are special messages that are sent to us. You can call them wake up calls or life's lessons. But regardless of their labels, they routinely bring me to my knees. That's a pretty nice realization to have when one is questioning their own identity as I am doing here. And it's that same type of gratitude and humility that I want to incorporate even more in my life. You see, I have this fairly flawed, normal, horrible, beautiful sort of life. And at this minute, I am so grateful for it. So, Dear Readers, today I'm asking you to take a quick personal inventory of your life and spend some quiet time appreciating it for what it is, warts and all. After all, we all could be lying in unbearable pain in a hospital right now. Hopefully, you'll have some tears in your eyes as I do right now. Have a great day, and I hope to see you tomorrow. Lauren