Yesterday was one of those days that forces you to be grateful. I think we all forget to be grateful usually up until something bad happens. Yesterday afternoon we were driving and pulled up next to a woman asking for money. Her sign read “Pregnant, Need Medicine”. The woman was young. I doubt we’re more than a couple years apart in age. She was smiling, polite and thankful when we handed her $3 through the window. She didn’t seem messed up on drugs or mentally ill. She was exactly the kind of person you want to give money to, someone down on their luck. But what was she doing there? How did she get there and is she going to be okay? What will happen to that child?
Later I talked to my dad on the phone. He’s someone who almost always makes me feel immediately sad and grateful. Grateful not to be in debt, grateful to have a job and glad to learn these lessons from him and not by myself.
I talked to one of my other favorite people on the phone and learned of his relationship trouble. He put it to me like this, “It’s like we were on a road trip. I was driving for a while and everything seemed fine. We pulled over and changed seats so I could take a nap. When I woke up, I didn’t know where we were anymore. The driver pulled over and told me to get out of the car. I didn’t understand why and where I was or how to get back but it didn’t matter because the car left me and now I’m on the side of the road by myself.”
I’ve been in a relationship for over three years. There was a point where I could have been left on the side of the road and found my way home. Now, there’s nothing more terrifying to me than having my partner in all things tell me to get out of the car. And so I am grateful. Grateful for my family and good friends and a good man by my side.
You might not feel grateful today. Maybe you feel terrible because you have something terrible going on. Please let me know if I can help you.
Seeking Misadventure 