The Grateful Bread
November 22, 2011
I had one of those days last Friday where at every turn I felt ultimately grateful. The day started when I had to get a lump checked out on my right breast. The first sonogram showed something unusual so I decided to go and have a SonoCine done. This is a new alternative for mammograms which we are now discovering omit too much radiation. So the SonoCine proved to be valuable. The doctor concluded the lump was a cyst and just needed to be monitored. What a relief especially since I still don't have health insurance. Later in the day, my precocious six year old decided to play hid and seek at a shopping mart we were at. When I realized she was missing I literally lost my _ _ _ _
and began screaming like a lunatic for her. After about twenty minutes of utter hell, she came sheepishly out of a dressing room where she was "hiding out". After those two close calls, I felt drained yet filled with utter gratitude. Life could have ended for me that day. I was primed and ready for the two inner city boys who happened to ring my doorbell and solicit me for a magazine drive. At first glance I was going to turn them away, but their complete earnestness and something akin to innocence spoke to me. They ended up telling me their tales of woe and attempting to eat some of my healthy alternative to bread. They were grateful for the magazine subscriptions I signed up for, but not the health food. They asked if I was trying to kill them with my cooking. Quite funny . . . They must have marked my door with some sort of secret sucker sign because the next day I was hit up by an obviously homeless woman who literally was missing every tooth in her mouth. She however, took my bread willingly along with the few shekels I had to offer. No matter how troubled we may be, there is always someone worse off. What matters is how we handle our life situations. Hopefully with grace and humor, that's what my visitors showed me.
This week Pamela Salzman shares with us a delicious Thanks Giving side dish and we discover Dr. Alkaitis products. At Tribe we visit with the Craft and Folk Museum and Beatrice Wood. Blessings to you all . . . happy gratitude day!