Counting Our Blessings

Starting something new is so often exciting and exhilarating, frightening and difficult, longed for and yet resisted.

“When one door of happiness closes, another one opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.”-Helen Keller

And, so with a great many positive changes on my own horizon, I am so humbly reminded of the serious challenges some of my friends and family are facing in their lives. While I feel scared and frozen at times with the overwhelming prospect of not just a new baby in the next few weeks but also my husband’s job change and our family’s relocation just a few months after baby comes, I cringe at becoming acutely aware of the contrast between defining our life changes and life changes that define us.

Several people in my life are battling cancer. Different cancers, different stages, different treatments but all life changing. Sometimes just the ‘what if’ scenario, the recall for more testing becomes the catalyst for renewed awareness. A scare quickly reminds us to live each day as a gift. Even my own mother was drafted into this war several years ago. Fortunately, her treatment outcome has her going on year threes of remission. And, my dad who has just recently recovered from a minor surgery seems so lucky to be nearly 68 and to only have a hernia that was easily repaired. With all this in mind, we count our blessings.

I also know a family with faith so solid, so strong they could challenge top religious leaders in any part of the world. The husband, father of their two boys, has battled through so much: brain tumor, surgeries, full recoveries, recurrences, more surgeries, and nearly full recoveries. Now, the other shoe has dropped. As if one brain tumor in the family wasn’t enough, his wife now has her own to conquer. She is already recovering from the surgery to remove the tumor and faces a positive prognosis. This time the blessing is on the other side of the world but still near to our hearts.

We all have our own challenges and difficulties. They come in all shapes and sizes. Everything from what’s for dinner to uprooting the family and starting over somewhere else. What strikes me about these good, brave people I am fortunate to know, is how witnessing their strength injects me with a shot of humility and a large dose of perspective. The injustice makes no sense, and never will, but nonetheless reminds me to pull focus on all the positives in my life and to graciously appreciate our health and prosperity. More blessings.

In my little piece of the world, we all have our health, our fifth child is growing and healthy waiting on his due date, and another c-section is not that big a deal. My husband has earned and landed this great new job, a once in a lifetime opportunity, with people who are already good to us, willing to be more than flexible to a man with a growing family. I personally strive to live a better life, seek inner peace and personal happiness while raising kids who will follow their hearts in their own life over time. In less than 2 months we will welcome this baby boy and change our family forever, again. Soon after his birth we will wonder how we ever lived without him, how we ever ‘felt’ complete without him. Then, this summer we will leave this city we love, this city we have called home for over 12 years. We will leave our first home ever owned and this place where our family grew by one darling daughter and four precious boys. This summer we will start an entirely new chapter in our lives, a new adventure taking us to California, a new part of the country, a new home, new schools, new friends, new job. All good positive life changes, a great new adventure we are boldly choosing to embark on. Again, I count our blessings.


Trust. Live open. Leap and the net will appear. Follow the path true to your heart. These are words of encouragement that come to mind. I know for many of our friends with far bigger challenges than what is on our horizon, that means trusting your faith, trusting the medicine, trusting the doctors, trusting our bodies to do their best for us. In one word, trust. I am choosing ‘trust’. For me, I trust we are making the right choices. We will find good schools. The kids will adjust handsomely, far better and more quickly than me I am sure. My husband will not just thrive but soar at his new job. I, too, will adjust eventually, even make grown up friends, redefine our home anew, put down new roots, and keep my sister close to my heart. I trust that our home is uniquely ours no matter what the physical address. And, I trust that all these changes will make our family stronger and tighter, continue to solidify our relationships, and remind us all how real growth comes through change.

“The only journey is the journey within.”- Rainer Maria Rilke

All is good. I know it and I appreciate it. I am forever thankful for each and every day. And, once again, I am reminded to send prayers & positive thoughts to all our friends and family and, closer to home, to always count our blessings.