Grateful, grateful

It’s been a month to shake off the complacency. I’ve been reminded that relatively big things in your life, like a job, can just disappear from one minute to the next. I’ve been reminded that much of what I thought I knew about politics, about the very nature of our public discussion, was wrong. From there, it’s easy to think about all the fragility of all the systems that surround and support us. One hacker destroys the food distribution system, one text message smashes the car. One cell divides too quickly. One mob with a pitchfork – or an automatic rifle – decides not to like you. 

Probably most people in the world already knew that stuff better than I… incomprehensibly bad things happen every day, everywhere, and to everybody. Still, when your glass is even a little emptier than it used to be, you notice, and wonder, and worry. 

But even faced with a crazy set of changes, what I’m noticing this weekend is a glass that still feels way more than half full. Lost a job? Lucky, and grateful, to be in a household with another one. And to be in a household, not all alone. And for that household to be in an actual house. And so on. 

Lost a little knee cartilage over the years? Extra thankful for my bike. Far-flung family? Hooray for big-hearted friends. And so on. At some point, after some number of losses, I suppose I’d feel differently… the emptiness would overwhelm the fullness, the unfairness would eat the joy right off the plate. 

But not yet. I’m thankful this weekend for all of it. And even though it’s probably Pollyanna thinking, grateful for the new choices we will have to be making in the coming days. Exciting times!