Grateful

Sometimes, getting bad news that isn't the worst news brings into sharp focus how blessed we really are.

It's been a year of near misses for us and ours. Josh's mom, Dash's beloved Gamma, found she had stage one breast cancer and got a double mastectomy. Just yesterday we learned she was cancer-free and would not have to endure chemo.

My mother, Dash's adored Baba, had knee replacement surgery that eventually resulted in a blood infection so severe that she was hospitalized multiple times until the doctors were able to figure out what was wrong with her. While she was undergoing test after test they found lesions on her spine. I just got the call moments ago that it's mild arthritis rather than cancer. The tears of relief won't stop coming.

Even I had a little scare with some skin cancer that was caught early and removed quickly.

So you see, a bunch of bad news that was actually good news because everything could have been so much worse.

I don't forget to be thankful in my everyday life. I honestly don't. Our struggles to have Dash have left a permanent well of gratitude in my heart. And I recognize how rare and beautiful it is to have a partner who you adore and makes you laugh. How unlikely it is to have a life full of friends and family and teachers who love your child as if he were theirs. How incredible it is to live in a house that you love in a place where you feel safe. I really, honestly remember to be grateful every day for the blessings that are rained down on our heads. But some days, when you are bracing for bad news that doesn't come, the gratitude moves your feet so you feel like dancing. That's how we all feel right now. And, serendipitously, we get to say it out loud on Thursday--on the very day that's carved out for the sole purpose of gratitude. Now truly, what could be more lovely than that?

I hope, hope, hope, that you get to be grateful (but in a much less dramatic way than we) for all the blessings that rain down on your heads, too.