Count your blessings

I just had to take a moment to post something. Just remember, no matter how bad you think things are in your life, there's probably someone who's having a rougher time that you. Just take the time to put your troubles in perspective, that's all I'm trying to say. I'll give you an example where I was smacked in the back of the head (figuratively) and reminded that I needed to do just that, put things in perspective.
As you all know, Gabriel was born 16 weeks early and remained in intensive care for 3 months. Compared to the problems we could have been faced with, we dealt with relatively minor complications - I don't mean minor, I mean minor in comparison to what we could have faced. Got me? Ok, so for any parent of a preemie, weight gain is a big deal. After Gabriel was discharged from the hospital we had follow up visits with the neonatologists so they could check his weight and other growth and developmental metrics. On our first visit, I was so excited for them to see how well he'd been doing. He'd been weighed at the pediatrician's office and we weighed him at home so I knew where he was. I also knew that there were minor variations from scale to scale so I knew the general range where he would tip the scales, give or take some ounces. Well I was broken hearted at the clinic when they weighed him and then said that he was a little under weight and they would like to have seen more weight gain. They weren't overly concerned but wanted to supplement his feedings to get him where he needed to be. The rest of the appointment went well, they were pleased with his progress but I could not let go of the weight thing. I knew he was where he needed to be and I was really upset and concerned that they didn't think he was doing as well as they'd hoped. It really wasn't a huge deal but I was just so focused on his success I let it get under my skin.
Well either that day or the next I received that smack to the back of the head. I checked in on one of the preemie's I'd been keeping up with and he had surgery scheduled for that day. When I read the update, his mom had posted that the surgery was postponed because when they put him under anesthesia, his heart stopped. They were able to resuscitate him but that was it. I realized that a discrepancy in weight was nothing to be upset over. (turns out they had issues with their scale so I was mad for no reason anyway).
I heard some news today that reminded me of this all over again. Today I was just reminded of how blessed I am to have a family and extended family that I love so much and to have my husband and children around me.
Even on your worst day, I bet you can look around you and point out a number of blessings in your life. Give it a try.
Love to all!
ACD