Counting Your Blessings

At the hospital last week I was walking through the hall uncomfortably with my husband and sister in law. A man and a woman were coming towards us and they were talking and laughing. (I saw the happy couple right away because I'm no longer part of one.) Then I noticed they were pushing a wheelchair. And in the wheelchair was a child, probably around the age of my son. He had wispy hair and chalky pale skin and was so frail looking that I internally winced. He was very obviously enduring a long stay in the hospital. Cancer I'm guessing. The parents were saying something that made the child smile. I thought of my son and daughter at school and I immediately felt ashamed. Ashamed of my hatred for the father of my children walking beside me. Ashamed of wallowing in my 'why is life so hard right now' attitude. Although I'm not very religious, I said a prayer for that child. May he soon see the hospital in the rearview mirror as he's driving away with his family towards the rest of his life. 

There's an old Chinese proverb my boss told me about recently. She said it goes something like this - if we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab our own back. 

I'm grabbing my own problems today and I'm counting my blessings. 

* Today I'm having surgery to get the kidney stone excavated. Camera in my ureter, camera in my bladder. Laser to zap the stone and the doctor will pick out all the pieces. It sounds like loads of fun but I'm looking forward to having this behind me (or should I say out of me?).  Maybe I'll run into my neighbor who works registration at the hospital, the one who saw the moving van in my driveway and she'll ask me how my divorce is working out for me.