Thankful… for the good and bad

As we approached the Christmas season, so much went through my mind. The past few months have been tough. A family member had a relapse of his mental illness and was warded in IMH. We went through a cash crunch and for the first time, the kids had to be denied things they were used to.

I looked around at our excesses and wonder if all these are necessary and I remember a time long ago when I wanted to be a nun, as I yearned for the simplicity of a zen life.

My kids, on the other hand, get sucked in to the commercialism and wish they were rich and can buy everything they set their eyes on. It accelerates into complains about everything, from our uninspired home decor to the boring dishes our helper serves up. Yes, they’ve been on too much Pinterest.

I keep telling them that if they constantly look at others with better things, they will be dissatisfied and unhappy. There will always be people who have more than us and people who have less. This holidays, they have had much less than past years, and I guess the silver lining is that henceforth, they will be more appreciative of the good life that we have been living all these years.

Thinking back to 2 Christmases ago where I couldn’t even walk, I knew I had so much to be thankful for. Being mobile and able to go wherever I wanted to, healthy children, a big family around us.

A few days ago, we accompanied the hubs up to K.L. for a meeting since the kids were on holiday. I was happy to be there but was griping about the horrendous traffic and for having to sit for hours in the jam.