Counting My Blessings

If you asked me to sum up this week I'd say that it has been blah. For the past few days I've felt as thought I've been walking around in a fog that no amount of caffeine can jolt me out of. After the hubbub of the holidays its been back to normal around here (whatever that is). It is the first week back to work and school after a long break and it has simply dragged. I've been struggling to find the motivation to do everything from go to the gym and grocery shop to put away the rest of Christmas and simply get organized. I've been in a writing funk and been unable to really sit down and put a complete thought to paper. There have been lots of partial ones but not much else. Of course the weather hasn't been helping. We've experienced a few blinding glimpses of sun but it has been mostly rainy, gray and windy in these parts. I affectionately call it "Belgian weather" but I'm over it now.

And then there has the been the news. After weeks of not really keeping up with current events I've been inundated with horrifying and heart wrenching news. Yet another plane crash with over one hundred still unaccounted passengers makes me realize that life can literally change in an instant. This week's terrorist attack in Paris that killed twelve people who were doing their jobs has simply made me sick to my stomach. Add in a shooting at a Veteran's clinic in Texas, lethal bone chilling temperatures over much of the East Coast of America and the seemingly endless suicide bombings in Afghanistan, Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries and it is all enough to make even the happiest person feel depressed. I mean, what is our world coming to when tragedy and violence are becoming the hallmark of how we live?

But all of this news does put my own complaints in perspective. The long week? The weekend is now upon us and as bad as the week has seemed I am grateful that my family and friends are all safe, healthy and well....alive. The packing and getting organized? It will all happen in good time--perhaps even this weekend. The weather? It may be unpleasant but its nothing a good raincoat and pair of boots can't handle. After all, this is Belgian weather and if I let it stop me from getting out I would never be able to leave the house. And the writer's block? Perhaps this little piece has helped me break through it. If nothing else, writing this has gotten me thinking and made me realize that in this increasingly scary world, I have a lot to be thankful for.