So I sit here with my leg wrapped in elastic bandages, crutches leaning next to me with an ice pack on my butt.  All this downtime has given me time to reflect on taking things for granted…

In the past year or so I have lost three dear friends.  I miss them and wonder if I had stayed in contact with them enough?  Had I supported them enough through their illnesses, did I make them laugh?  Did I take our friendships for granted, thinking they would be there forever?

Last year my son’s heart was broken.  This reminded me that relationships are fragile and need to be treated as “brand new” as often as possible. It’s work, but should be good work!

It’s easy to take the gift of a treasured relationship or friendship for granted.

I was stung by my first scorpion this year.  The sting was like being stabbed with a piece of heated wire.  How is it possible that such a small thing can cause SO MUCH pain?  I took for granted the ability to make a fist, before our chance encounter.

On my 62nd birthday, I took a not-so-graceful dive playing frisbee, thus the elastic bandages.  The Frisbee incident, as we will now call it, made me realize that I’ve taken my ‘experienced’ body for granted. Even though I try to work out every day and had finally accomplished touching my palms to the floor in a forward fold during yoga, I needed to respect it more. I should have treated it as a treasured gift that has made it through two children, an appendicitis, biopsies, hysterectomy and tumor. And now that I can barely bend over the sink to brush my teeth, I realize I have taken for granted my muscles, tendons and ligaments.

Remembering…

I know I take living in a country with incredible freedoms for granted. I take for granted having the ability to do and go and buy whatever I want (well, within the budget). I’ve taken for granted the safe feeling I have living day to day in this country, unlike many others who have lived their entire lives in fear and war.

I take for granted all the men and women who stand guard every day to keep my freedom safe. I’ve taken for granted all those who served, like my dad, my sister and granddad and the affect it had on their psyches. I know, for sure, that I have taken for granted the lives that were sacrificed to keep my family and me safe. Protecting this country: the land, the rights, the privileges and freedoms, was something they willingly did.  It breaks my heart that we’ve taken their sacrifices for granted by either apathy or disrespect.

Taking things for granted…

While I sit with my leg elevated and continue to ice, I will revisit all the things I should NOT take for granted: walking, bending, sleeping, and especially all those in the Service who I’ve never met, but who selflessly walked into danger for me.

Grateful for you, the ability someday to sit without pain, and for all those who lost their lives in the Service of this Country.

Sheree