Perspective

Chou and our favorite 13 year old house guest baked two apple pies last night. I was super excited for the oven to warm our house as the temperature has dropped outside and I'm trying really hard not to touch our thermostat.

However, when I headed to bed later that evening, I realized the warm oven had had the opposite effect on the temperature of the house. The warm downstairs had prevented our heat from kicking on and had made the upper level of our home even colder than before. As I lay in bed under my warm blankets cuddling E, I was forced to think of an email I had received a couple hours earlier asking for donations of formula and blankets for families affected by Hurricane Sandy. Families who have lost everything. Families who are cold. Families who are haunted with the reality of not being able to feed their newborn babies. 

As I lay there shivering, I was thankful all over again for my home, my family, and having the option to walk downstairs and turn up the heat. Chou headed up to the attic to find a box of unused winter coats that will serve a much better purpose on the backs of the recently homeless. Today we gathered unused baby items and will be buying formula (a first for me). I'd love to round up families and have them share our warm, albeit teeny, home, but for now we will send supplies. We will share just an inkling of their burden and along with so many will help them get through one more day.

Some days it's easy for me to get caught up in getting ahead, in accumulating more things, driving a better car, decorating our home. Today I choose to be thankful for my well fed baby girl, my shredded couch, and my broken washer. Okay, I'm not thankful for the last one as my pile of dirty diapers grows and the pile of clean ones diminishes, but it sure puts things in perspective.