Reality Check

I had posted a blog a few months back with a quote from Maya Angelou, about how you can tell alot about a person by the way they handle the little things can throw you off track. Tangled Christmas lights, lost luggage at the airport, etc. Can't remember the exact quote.  But this past year or so has shown me that I can maybe complain less, suck it up more, untangle those Christmas lights without the need for a major motion picture documenting how hard my life is. I've always had one of those self-deprecating personalities where, if even the most minor discrepency happened in my day you were going to hear about it. I always had a STORY!,  whether I tripped over a curb or dealt with an unpleasant clerk at the grocery store. This year has opened my eyes quite a bit as to just how much people reeeeeally go through on a daily basis. Some examples are the blog I follow of the 29 year old wife of  the 5th grade teacher at our school. She has Hodgkins Lymphoma and I have been following her story for a few months. She stays amazingly positive in spite of her everyday real life dramas. Here is her story:  http://eyespeeledalways.blogspot.com/.  Another is an acquaintance who I have come to think of as a dear friend has shared her brutally honest, often heartbreaking, and sometimes funny story of financial stress in http://frompradatopayless.blogspot.com/ And hitting even closer to home is my sister's http://hereallyatecrackersinbed.blogspot.com/  which I wouldn't even believe if I hadn't been there firsthand when most of her life was unravelling. Finally there is the blog about a college friend's 3 year old fighting a rare and terminal brain cancer on http://tylouis.blogspot.com/
And don't even get me started on the tsunami that hit Japan this week. So, don't expect to hear my whining about my kid that's been puking since 3:30 this morning. I'll be busy untangling the Christmas lights.