Gratitude - It's all perspective

It's hard to believe, but a year has passed since I was suffering so terribly from a torn muscle and ligament. It's the type of pain that you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy and I'm glad that chapter of my life is in the past. 

A llamingo - half llama/half alpaca...bad breath, but
he loved me (which makes me happy)
Photo by Linda Sorrento

The process was so impactful that, to this day, being able to do things without pain is something for which I'm grateful. I tied my shoe the other day, sitting on a chair, like a normal person; foot across my knee and it was a moment of pure joy. Something so simple. Walking down the street, rolling over in bed, even touching my toes or being able to go to the gym without worrying (overly) about being sore or unable is so freeing. 

Ron and I in Peru, heading towards Machu Picchu
(Happiness!)

All this "ableness" was lost on me before my injury. I was happy (in a general sort of way) to be able to do things that others obviously couldn't, but it wasn't really meaningful. I think this is why there is suffering; so that we can better appreciate the good things. Now, I'm going to go completely off the reservation (that's probably not PC, so my apologies) and apply this to privilege, be it financial, racial, gender or cultural. You don't know how good ya' got it, until you lose it. So when someone is talking from their own perspective, I cannot judge. I am not them, I haven't had their experiences and am in no place to condemn.

Flowers make me happy, too

I'm going to apply this principle as I move forward, trying to remember that everything is influenced by perspective. One person's disaster is another's best case scenario. It's a thought that I need to get through these wild and woolly times. What I do know, is that we're all human and there is no "us" or "them", just "we".