Years ago, someone dear to me became very ill. The situation deteriorated over months. One morning, standing in the ER after staying awake all night, I grew desperate. I vowed to myself and God and the Chinese heavens that if my relative recovered, I would be grateful for the rest of my days.
It was a time of clarity. All the skills I spent my life developing were suddenly useless, except communication abilities for interacting with doctors. Kindness from friends and strangers became priceless; money seemed nearly worthless by comparison. There were moments of great despair.
My relative recovered. For a while, I overflowed daily with gratitude.
The months and years went by. Just now, I saw an article that reminded me of my relative's illness, and I realized with shock that I haven't thought of my vow of gratitude in quite some time.
I've been feeling quite grateful in the past month, but not to the extent that I felt at that time. Back then, I felt overwhelmingly lucky just to be healthy, and to have the people I care about be alive and healthy.
I just sent myself FutureMe reminders for one and three years from now, to remember to stay grateful. Hopefully this blog post will remind me too.
3 comments:
I know, the need to make good on a promise slips away for me too.
What a nice reminder for us to be thankful. Thanks for sharing!
I had a siilar feeling today when I learnt that Brittany Murphy died. She's 32!
I guess there's a sick positive in the negativity that is being reported in the news... it gives you a reminder to count your blessings.
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