Gratitude

I was always an optimist as a kid. I don't know when it happens to us, but it seems that most adults are pessimists, and unfortunately, I fear I've joined those ranks. For some reason, it's so much easier to see the glass half empty; we find the little things to nitpick and complain about when in reality, we have so many big things to give thanks and praise for. I've decided to committ myself to (I hate this--it sounds so cliche) an attitude of gratitude. Instead of getting down about Bear's Down syndrome, I'm going to be grateful for his health and the person he is becoming. Instead of getting upset about the load of laundry my husband didn't get done, I'm going to be grateful for the kind and loving husband and father he is. Instead of complaining about family and in-laws, I'm going to praise God that I have a family who loves my little guy so much and is so supportive.

As I watch Bear barrelroll across the floor, laughing and yelling the whole time, I can't help but have a heart filled with gratitude. It's so easy to become narrow minded when you're handed any kind of diagnosis...we automatically think we're the only ones going through this or have anything to deal with. Then I take Bear to Peyton Manning's Children's Hospital and see a nine-year-old walk in with a baseball cap masking her bald head as she battles leukemia. I meet parents of Joe, a three-year-old with Down syndrome who has a hole in his heart which will need surgery to repair, sleeps w/ a ventilator, has a feeding tube, isn't walking or talking...and the list goes on. My little guy is SO healthy, yet I still find myself wallowing in self pity at times. I am so grateful that he is active, lively, energetic, loving, goofy, and fun.

If only we could each stop during those moments of temporary insanity when we're raging and complaining about something and give thanks...what a different world we would live in.