Grateful

It is not often that I get the opportunity or feel the need to watch Oprah, but today, as I opened my weary eyes at 4 pm...I needed to stare blankly at something for a few minutes before I ventured out with my red-eyed non-showered haggard looking self to make a public appearance at the daycare. The topic was the real face of the economic recession (borrring) I thought, remembering being beaten over the head with the "B" word as I call it (budget) at work. Grrr... Make it stop!

But there was a story about a nice looking middle class woman with three kids. They had recently become homeless, and the crew documented what they did day and in and day out. Shelters turning them away. Walking the streets during the day with all they have left (a very large garbage sack with their necessities...clothes, shoes, and toiletries). She was a home health aide before becoming homeless, her husband did clerical work. Both lost their jobs. They sold everything they had and still lost their home, then their apartment when the money ran out. They made decent money before, had little savings though, but lived an average life. Just like us, I thought.

As Oprah sent out the warning to those of us living paycheck to paycheck (like she has a clue), I thought, we have been saved over and over and over again financially, one way or another. This got me thinking....our little house and our somewhat high fixed rate mortgage might not be so bad. Struggling to make the payments is one thing. Not knowing how high they will be next is another. And despite Steve's job saying no to his annual raise and no longer matching his 401K, he still has a job. Despite the incessant banter about budget at work, I have a job too. We are ok. We are more than ok. And there are so many people that are not. Even though our heater quits when we need it the most, and our house isn't the prettiest in town, it's the place we call home. It has big rooms and it has a lot of love and memories. It has projects that we've finished together and most of all, it's safe. As I watched the mother huddle with her children over their homework in a busy shelter with no doors or privacy, I felt for a moment the terror she must have felt for those children. Better yet, the fear that she might lose them. I also thought of my family. They would never let that happen to us. Nor we for them. Thank God for what we are given, what we are lent, what we are blessed with. I just wanted to take a moment to be grateful. I'll take this life any day, with the tiny cheerleader in the front too.