It’s something we often hear but don’t always do. And I am the first one to admit that sometimes I forget. Fortunately during those moments there is a little light bulb in my head that blinks to remind me of how lucky I am.

One of those times was a  Sunday afternoon. The sky was grey. It was raining and I was driving to Brooklyn to go to the Unique Thrift Shop – not a place where I wanted to be on a  Sunday afternoon, but it was today that they had their 50% off sale. No, I didn’t need $3 off a pair of shoes, but since I shopped there for clothes to give to the homeless at my church, it allowed me to buy a lot more.

Nothing that happened that afternoon improved . The traffic was slow, due to construction, and the rain had intensified, and to make things worse there was no parking. After driving around for a while I found a parking garage two blogs away. Not only did they charge $22 but it made me schlepp my purchases, 4 bags of clothing, through the rain. When I got back to pick up my car, the wait was 20 minutes and no place to take shelter from the rain. I felt miserable.

But on my way home, with the rain still beating against my windshield and the traffic  at snail pace going back to Manhattan my light bulb suddenly went on, and the message flashing through my mind was ‘stop complaining and be glad that you are the one buying the clothes for the homeless instead of being homeless!‘

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I recently found this paperweight

It is a good reminder, not just to feel blessed, but to go a step further and count twice whatever and whoever is making our life better.

 And never forget – A Smile Changes Everything

Brigitte