Perspective

Today my dad, my sister and I attended my Grandma Bushman's funeral. It was a lovely service and tribute to her life. Because I knew I would have a difficult time manuerving dad in and out of the car, his nurse came along with us. This proved to be a very good decision. He was attentive to my dad and helped our family out tremendously in terms of my dad's needs. But he also reminded me of something I've always known but sometimes need to be reminded of, always appreciate what you have. This gentleman is 22 years old and has had a terrible life. What touched me today was he was so happy because he was finally able to afford a mobile home with air conditioning (air conditioning, something I so take for granted). Then he told that because he grew up poor he had never taken a vacation until recently, he was able to afford a small get away. In my head I was thinking he at least went out of state somewhere. He didn't. He traveled to Elmhurst, IL to a Holiday Inn and then went to Shedd Aquarium. He said he was so excited he took over 300 photos, only to have his camera stolen, with the memory card. He said he didn't even care about the camera, he just wanted the memories from his first vacation that he had captured. I dropped this gentleman off at his very modest mobile home and went home to my large house with my large kitchen and even bigger yard and I thought to myself, there is nothing I need and there is nothing my children need. My children have two parents that love each other and love them. There isn't a time they have to wonder where their next meal is coming from and they have clothing on their backs with several pairs of shoes to choose from, not to mention (getting back to that huge yard I have) they have plenty of space and fresh air so they can move their bodies. To me, these are the basics that all children need to thrive, anything beyond these basic necessities is a bonus. I felt embarassed at all I have and it reminded me of that old saying that "less is more."