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gratitude

On Empathy, Luck and Gratitude

November 27, 2013 by Sue Campbell

I get out of the car and walk up the driveway. Ben meets me at the door. He is shaking.

“Everyone I know is okay,” he says with strange emphasis, “But there’s been an accident. John hit someone head-on and the person died.”

John (not his real name) is someone Ben works with. I know without asking that he must have been driving a very big truck.

I sit down on the steps and Ben tells me a few more details. Then he goes to the back yard to chop wood and collect himself. I head inside.

As the door closes behind me I hear Nora calling, “It’s time to WIPE!” She’s been pooping while we talked.

“Okay, I’m coming!”

“Mommy, are you home?”

“Yes, I am,” I call back in a sing-song voice as I kick off my shoes. I have never been happier to be around to wipe my daughter’s bottom.

It could have been Ben driving a big truck and unable to stop in time as an oncoming car crossed the center line.

It could have been me speeding toward a dump truck. It could have been my fatal lapse in judgment, trying to sneak a quick look at my phone.

What a great gift it is when danger gets just close enough to wake us up, but not fuck us up.

I tear some paper from the roll and bend over my daughter and let myself be grateful. Grateful to be momentarily safe and warm, grateful for a husband who shakes in empathy for a friend and a stranger.

I remind myself never to fall into the trap of thinking that my family has been spared for some special purpose. It hasn’t.

We’ve just been lucky so far.

Lucky, lucky, lucky.

Thanks, thanks, thanks.

May luck and gratitude be with you in the season to come.

 

 

Filed Under: Big Themes Tagged With: gratitude, thanksgiving

34

June 28, 2010 by sue campbell

I can’t tell you how much I am loving my thirties.  Yes, the maintenance is ridiculous.  Hairs sprout everywhere, some of them are gray.  My eyes are getting worse.  My knees make funny crunchy noises and one or two joints ache when it’s cold.  I have pre-diabetes and one functioning kidney, so I have to exercise my tushy off and birthday cake is a thing of the past.

But I have a beautiful, healthy child, a strong marriage,  a house, a garden, a dog and some chickens. 

I can’t say I’m at the point where I don’t care what anybody thinks, but I don’t give a damn about negative people most of the time. 

Today, I am thirty-four.  And I do not want what I haven’t got.

Filed Under: Big Themes Tagged With: birthdays, gratitude, thirties

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What kind of blog is this?

This is a blog for PARENTS. True, the writer, Sue Campbell, writes books for kids. But this blog is for grown-ups. It has some swearing and would be super boring for kids. Except for the swearing.

The PODCAST is for KIDS and PARENTS. In fact, my twelve-year-old daughter is my co-host.

If your kids like Sue's books, send them over to suecampbellbooks.com where there's some kid-friendly content. EVEN BETTER, join the mailing list. You get stuff for grown-ups and printable stuff for kids. And sometimes there will be super ill-advised giveaways or coloring contests for free books.

MORE ABOUT SUE: She makes an ACTUAL LIVING from writing words and marketing books and lives with her husband, two daughters, six chickens and one messy house rabbit in Portland, Oregon. And yes, Portland IS that weird. She really couldn't be any luckier.

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