Busy weekend with an abrupt awakening at midnight to find that the heating had conked out. Of course these things usually happen over a weekend, and on the coldest day of the year. My little daughter had an idea. Let us camp out in the living room in sleeping bags next to the fireplace. That was not the first thing I would have thought of, but sure that is a viable option. That is exactly what we ended up doing.

I brought down the wrapped up sleeping bags from the garbage, and she proceeded to “ set up” the family room area. It was not all that bad, as we snuggled in for the night, including her stuffy teddy bears that also needed warmth from her cold(ish) room. The fireplace warmed up our sleeping gear and soon we were counting sheep as we drifted off. I woke to 3 inches of snow on the ground. Overnight it was cold for sure.

We take so many things in our lives for granted. A Functioning car, fresh water, a roof over our heads, heating in the home, food every day and so on. Yet we forget that a vast part of the rest of the world struggle with these simple necessities. I slept on the carpet in a state of the art bag designed to handle cold temperatures, yet little children all around the world have to sleep on the bare earth with no little to no clothing and no sleeping gear or even a sheet to cover themselves.

I had hot running water to shower this morning. Most people do not even have water and have to walk for miles just to satisfy their thirst, let alone bathe. My fridge is working with plenty of cooked food for me to make breakfast. Many have no food, let alone a fridge to store it. I have a family that I live with. Many people do not have anyone in their lives to connect to, let alone friends, and still in the digital age the connection is not real as we are emotionally disconnected with our smart phones.

It is when we have the material comforts we ( I) do not appreciate them enough to understand another’s plight. It is when they are briefly taken away that we find our first world inconveniences. This was a beautiful time for me to take stock of what I “have” and become grateful for it. Start small and go bigger. Become grateful for the body that we inhabit, the utensils we use, the clean water from the tap, the bed we sleep in, the pillow we use etc. Then outward to home, car, job, city, state, friends, family etc.

When we are grateful for the small things in life, we are given the bigger things in life to be grateful for. This heating thing will get sorted and we will go about our lives. Till the next challenge to sort out and overcome and be grateful for the learning that it brings.

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I love you