The Katywompus Journal Observing Life's Little Quirks by Diane Moody |
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Entry #27: Reality Check
I should have known there was a problem when I first woke up last Saturday morning. Instead of wiping the sleep out of my eyes, I brushed icicles. My teeth were chattering. I stumbled out of bed, grabbed my heavy robe and stepped into my thick slippers. Somewhere between making the pot of coffee and checking the news on TV, it hit me. We had no heat! It was a frigid five degrees outside and not much warmer inside! Naturally (as I do whenever there's a crisis), I woke up Mr. Fixit. "Hey! We have no heat! DO something!" Always a nice way to start his day, especially at 5:00 a.m. on a weekend. My hero graciously crawled out from under those warm covers and sprinted across the room to pull on his sweats. After much puttering and flicking of switches and careful analysis, he rendered his diagnosis: we had no heat. Thanks, dear. He put in a call to our trusty Heat & AC folks who promised to be out later in the day. (Apparently we weren't the only ones in town with the shivers.) So we warmed our clothes in the dryer before dressing, lit a fire in the fireplace, and kept the hot coffee coming. And then I began to think about something I'd seen the night before. We'd gone to dinner in downtown Nashville, and on the way home, I saw what appeared to be a homeless man with his belongings in trash bags. He was huddled against a building near a heating vent trying to stay warm. It was freezing outside and I remember wondering how he could possibly survive that kind of cold all night. I know there are shelters for the homeless. And while the subject of homelessness is a whole other topic unto itself, still I thought about life on the streets without a place to call your own-a warm place to call home. We are so unbelievably spoiled, aren't we? We get aggravated when the batteries go dead on our TV remote control. We complain when the water heater drains and someone gets a cold shower. We whine when our microwave burns a bag of popcorn. We grind our teeth when the icemaker jams. We bristle when the computer takes too long to open a website or worse, if it freezes up and obliterates a document. There's really no end to our collective whining these days. Maybe what we all need is an occasional reality check -- like a visit to one of those shelters downtown. Or a road trip back into the hills of Tennessee or Kentucky where the living's far from easy. A drive across the border to a country like Mexico or a boat trip to Haiti. Several years ago my husband led a mission trip to a remote village of Papua New Guinea. The native people he met there were some of the happiest he'd ever encountered in his entire life. Pretty amazing when you consider they had no running water and their "bathroom" was the bay that ran alongside the narrow inlet. Across another ocean, we have some good friends who are missionaries in a Middle Eastern country. I vividly remember their stories about having to strain the goat hair out of the milk they bought at the market. Oh my. The more I think about it, the more I recognize the need to appreciate the unbelievable luxury in which most of us live here in America. I don't ever want to take it for granted or think somehow I'm entitled just because I live in the land of the free and home of the brave! Instead, I thank God for the simple things like soft sheets on my bed, thermal socks in the winter, ice cold milk in the refrigerator, and let's not forget the case of toilet paper in the closet. For the newly paved roads in our little corner of the world. The miracle of light by the mere flick of a switch. Or the ability to see breaking news even as it happens from around the world on my television. Funny, how a little discomfort makes you think about things like that. Kind of puts it all into perspective, doesn't it? I'm thinking we shouldn't wait until Thanksgiving to count our blessings. They're all around us every day. Wouldn't you agree? Click HERE to send Diane an email. She welcomes your comments and suggestions. She's Flying the Coop Blessed are the poor... Back to School It All Started With Eve It's Almost Here! Forget About Weapons of Mass Destruction - let’s Talk Hormones The Other "W" "If only I could..." "Put Down That Remote and Step Away From the TV!" Take This Job and Love It! As the Stomach turns! Pet Peeves Cue the Balloons! A Picture Perfect Thanksgiving 'Twas Two Months Before Christmas . . . Egg Nog & Popcorn The Importance of Making Christmas Memories Step Away from the Mistletoe! O Crystal Ball . . . 2003 Unplugged Geek is Chic! Mind Your Manners! Go "Figure" You’ve Gotta Laugh |
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