Gratitude , Hope

I watched Farrah’s Story on NBC on Friday night. I’m sure it was very personal for her to share her story with the world. She symbolizes Hope amidst despair. Hope for bad days that will come, and hope that good days are ahead. As I watched her battle and subsequent reaction to achievements or setbacks, I knew that whatever was happening in my immediate environs would work itself out.

I survived my weekend and have lots to give thanks for. I’m grateful that I am the caregiver and it also made me realised that my inconveniences are like grains of sand compared to some people’s mountains.

Over the weekend, we spent 6 hours trying to save a man’s life: someone’s husband, dad, uncle, brother, cousin, son, grandpa. He fell 30 feet and is still in critical condition. Meanwhile his coworker 27 yrs old was airlifted out and will learn that he is paralyzed when he is conscious. How he reacts to this news will certainly influence the “quality” of the rest of his life. After the initial shock, will he choose to remain a victim, or thankful that he is alive and work within his limitations?. Last year I had the opportunity to hear a young lady, who was also a quad amputee speak at a conference, and I will always be reminded of her inspiring message. Quit complaining, accept reality, refuse pity parties and just accept that there will always be different situations in each of our lives, and its not because of things we did or didn’t do. Its called life!!!

On Sunday, we had a young couple on vacation and the husband is now a patient in the Critical Care unit. Now that sucks big time, but I also learnt a valuable lesson from his condition. His lack of attention to a seemingly miniscule mishap escalated to a major event with systemic involvement, which has a 65% chance of death, even with surgical intervention. How often in our lives “little” things happen, and rather than dealing with it right away, we allow it to mature and reach potentially poisonous status, effectively requiring more aggressive attention leading to possible “disability or death ” of that aspect of our lives. Just something to think about.

On another note, today we celebrated Discovery Day, so I was off on holiday, and I truly enjoyed my day. I did nothing, nada, zilch…. I should have done laundry, tidied my apt, put gas in my car, but instead I slept late, made lunch, slept some more, took a shower and now I’m watching Reba. She makes me laugh, even if I have seen the episodes before. I’m grateful for life, even with its ups and downs and I’m definitely looking forward to an awesome week.