Putting life into perspective.....

Today was one of those days.....you know, the type where despite what you do, EVERYTHING seems to go wrong.  I woke up late (thus my beauty regime turned into pure chaos as I raced out the door), my class was out of control, the Christmas tree randomly fell over by itself, I totally misplaced one of the secret santa gifts I was going to give, my family can't seem to decide if we're going to be able to get together for Christmas, etc, etc.....  Trust me, the list goes on.  Like I said, it was one of those days. 

But as I was driving home from work tonight, traffic suddenly slowed to a stop.  Looking ahead, I could just make out what appeared to be a lot of flashing lights.  We creeped along until I was finally alongside the accident:  a car seemed to have spun out of control and hit the cement wall dividing the highway.  After seeing the car, I cannot imagine how the driver could have made it out alive.

I also just heard of a teacher who's husband went out to shovel the snow on Saturday.  While shoveling, he suffered a massive heart attack that took his life before the ambulance could even make it to the house.  He was 56 years old.

Right now, I'm feeling thankful.  For as bad as my day was today, there are people out there that had an even worse day.  In a little while, I will go to bed and tomorrow, I will wake up to a fresh start.  For other people, today's bad day will carry on into the rest of their weeks, months and even years.  What horrible things to have to experience right before the holidays.  My heart goes out to the families involved. 

I'm thankful that I was able to make it home okay tonight.  I'm thankful for my kitty who greeted me ever so enthusiastically when I walked in the door.  I'm thankful that my bad day is something that I will be able to put behind me tomorrow. 

And most of all, I'm thankful to God for helping me put my life into perspective tonight.