Be Grateful

Life is busy & crazy & stressful. There are many days when I have to kick myself & remember that I have nothing to complain about. My family is healthy, we have a home & the future looks good. We have not been swept away in a Tsunami, had our house torn apart in a mud slide or destroyed in a hurricane. I have to remember to breath & be so, so grateful that I was born in a free country. Instead of whining about too much laundry-I need to be grateful that we can afford clothes & that we have electricity. In scrapping these beautiful Teresa Collins papers this month I wanted to do a layout about the Oklahoma City Bombing. We visited the memorial as a family the day after the 11th anniversary of the bombing. It had a huge impact on me. The memorial is a powerful testimony to how frail life is, that it can be taken away in a second but also showed what strength people can have in the face of sheer disaster.

As I stood next to the Survivor Tree, this beautiful vibrant oak tree that is over 80 years old. I could feel it's quiet power. It survived the blast & even though everything around it was on fire somehow the tree survived & became a symbol of strength. This extremely well designed memorial makes you realize that tragedy is not something that happens on the 6 o'clock news. It happens to real people ever day & it changes their lives forever. Every day we spend alive & well, is a miracle & it reminds me to cherish this moment. On this Thanksgiving Eve most of us will be running around doing last minute shopping, scrambling to get things baked in the kitchen, & preparing to deal with the latest family drama. Take a moment & be thankful that you have family, that you live in free country, that you have time. Just breath.