Blessings

Once again I have been constantly reminded how blessed I am. Why did this become so evident? Here are a few things that have made me aware of God's goodness in my life in comparison to some of my dear friends and relatives.

1. Last weekend two of my dear friends and I went to see "Over the River and Through the Woods", a wonderful play that I directed a few years back for WDI. Both of these women helped me. One was my Production Manager, the other my star. We went to dinner before the play. My star has had a terrible two years. Her wonderful husband fell the same month my Mother did when she still lived in Collinsville. My Mother had a concussion, but was fine. She truly is a hard headed German, since she has fallen and hit her head many times since then. But my star's husband hit his head once, and has never been the same. He has had to live in a convalescent home ever since. She goes to feed him every day, even though he can't really understand time, or follow a conversation. He has fallen and broke his hip since he has been there, too. Her final speech in the play about taking care of her husband took an entirely different meaning since the time we had done the show. I don't know if I would have the strength to be the woman she is. My other friend, had lost her husband many years ago to cancer. I am so lucky.

2. Just last week, my office manager and I were discussing how much we have to do to deal with our parents. About two days later, her Father died suddenly. I couldn't go to the funeral because my Father called and thought he was passing a kidney stone. I couldn't get him in to see the doctor before the weekend, so he said he would just try to pass it. On Monday, he called me to take him to the ER. While we were there, another woman my age was in the room next to us with her Father who was having great trouble breathing, and he had pnemonia. After four hours of tests, my Father had a simple UTI, and with antibiotics would be fine. So now we are looking forward to taking him to the lake for Father's Day on Sunday. What will these other women be doing?

3. When I was growing up, one set of my cousins were favored by my Grandmother. Their Father was her favorite son. They lived in Texas and for awhile in England, which makes for a very strange accent! The few times they visited Grandma, she lavished her love on them, and the cousins who lived here always felt slighted. Now with the wisdom of age, I realize it was because she never saw them, and there was no Internet to connect with them. Anyway, my girl cousin that was my age, was my arch rival as a child, but now we have become email buddies, and have even met up in New York and Chicago for some great visits. I really love her now, ironically. And now, I pray for her. Over the years, she has lost both of her parents to cancer, and now her brave husband has been battling bladder cancer for a couple of years. He is a neurosurgeon himself, and has saved many people, I'm sure, but just this week, we found out that modern medicine can't save him. The cancer has moved to his liver, and the doctors told her point blank, that there is nothing they can do but put him into hospice! Today I received an email from her saying he is no longer receiving guests. Steve and I had a similar scare when he was first diagnosed with MS. They told us they weren't sure if it was ALS or MS. One is certain death, and the other was manageable. Again, I was blessed to have the husband that was saved. She has a few hours or days left with her husband.

4. Whenever I turn on the news, we see the suffering of the people who live in the Gulf that have lost their livelihoods, or the people whose homes have been flooded from all the storms. I have two beautiful homes. Our only problem this week is some water in the basement and a family of raccoons in the attic that had to be caught. The other home is perfect.

5. I have three wonderful children that I often worry about, but they are all healthy and alive. Many of my friends have already lost a child.

I know there are many other things I should be down on my knees in gratitude for, but these are the blessings that have become very obvious to me in the last two weeks. And besides the personal blessings, we are all thrilled that the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup after 49 years! (Some comic relief). In reality, I feel like the lyrics of the "Sound of Music" song again. "I must have done something right"....., but I don't know what. However, I am very grateful that God has chosen me for some reason to be so blessed......thank you, Lord!