Falling Into Gratitude
How Do You Process Good Fortune Without Claiming to be “Blessed”?
Last night I was startled out of sleep by a huge crash. At first, I thought the house had been struck by lightening. But there was no thunder rumbling; the noise had been explosive.
I fumbled for the bedside light switch, but the room remained dark. Power was out. I peered out the bedroom window. It was dark. But through the murkiness, I realized what I was looking at.
A huge pine tree had fallen, just missing the house, clipping the front porch, and landing smack in front of us.
“What time is it?” I mumbled to my husband, who was already looking at the wreckage from various windows.
“Three am,” he said. “I have to go deal with this.”
“How are you going to deal with it at this hour?” I asked. “Just call the power company in the morning.”
“You’re right,” he said, and crawled back in bed.
But I know my husband. The next morning, I wasn’t surprised to discover that after tossing and turning for a while, he’d gotten up at 4 am. And it was a good thing, he informed me, when I wandered downstairs hours later. The guy from Con Ed, our utility company, was already out in the road, assessing the damage. All the lines were down —…
