Gratitude

It was a tough day today, not particularly horrible but not very good either. Some bad news came for The Nurse, which really set the tone for the rest of our day. When I picked M&M up from the bus stop today, Little M announced that she had a "very bad day," and Big M looked like she'd been crying for an hour. " I just want to be left alone," was all she said. Everyone seemed so down by the time that dinner was served. It was Little M who, in a stroke of spiritual insight, suggested we all go around the table and talk about what we were grateful for. It was sweet to hear things like, "friends, family and mashed potatoes make the list. When it was my turn, I remembered the homeless man who approached me at the bus stop today as I waited for the kids. Speaking only broken English, he said that he'd be leaving Chicago in only one week, but he needed work to survive for the next 7 days. He'd been sleeping in the park and looked weak, cold and hungry. He was asking us if we knew of any work he could do around the neighborhood. I told him I gave him a couple of ideas, like raking people's leaves, but really didn't have a lot of good advice for him. As the bus pulled up, I reached into my wallet and gave him the last two dollars I had on me. I really needed that money, but he needed it more in that moment. I looked him in the eye, shook his hand and wished him good luck. I'm grateful I had the money to give, grateful that I don't have to sleep in the park.