Nov 14 Grateful for perspective

Today I am grateful for a different perspective on material possessions.  MarShae's new iphone was lost or possibly stolen this past week, and even with scrutinizing efforts, we have come up empty.  I have felt a peace about the whole thing that is very weird for me.  I equate it to perspective.

I often recall clearly events that we were doing last November.  They are a haunting remembrance of life coasting along, but about to spin out of control. 
 I remember experiences full of wonderful blessings, also some frustrations, good days and bad, but for the most part things were going really well... almost too well. 

 As the 20th of this month approaches I've thought more than once, 

"You were just being pacified into thinking that life was on a roll!  Don't ever take for granted again the good  that life is giving. "

So what do these two things have to do with each other?  Only this, perspective.  

This has been on many levels the year of inequality.  I have been blessed more, lost more, felt more, felt less, cried more, screamed more, prayed more, slept less... It has been the ugliest and prettiest of times. I have witnessed more of heaven being close, felt more of heaven being far. I understand Charles Dickens "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

PERSPECTIVE

 I have wandered down many paths trying to figure out the path that will be the best choice, looking for a new normal, (whatever normal looks like), with an open ended time line, that seems to go on and on.  As I look back on the year I am grateful that I chose to write about my journey.  The haze of the year and reality being so foggy, I can see that having a record of aspects of this year will give me something when I come out of the haze to recall more clearly what the path looked like.  Hopefully it has given perspective to others as well.

So as MarShae's phone disappeared this week the same day she was cast in Klein's musical, I just thought perspective.  Highs and lows, and I would much rather the high's be the new musical then the phone not getting lost.  The phone is an item, something that can be replaced or lived without. It's something that provides a convenience that we lived without as a society until recently.

  It's just money.  Money is a means to an end. 

 I can't buy what I want with any amount of money, so again money and things, just have lost their value. 

The musical, well it is an experience that is like a lifeline to not only MarShae but to me as well.  

Something to get us through the holidays and into January. Memories to be made, time spent building relationships and growth.

Even if this were a 10,000 dollar loss, in the whole big picture that is nothing.  

This  year has been the most expensive year of my life, partially because of things out of my control, but partially because of things within my control.  Spending money has been a way to get a quick feeling of adrenaline.  We had a wedding, a funeral,many trips, purchases to help band aid the situation our life is in. I understand excessive shopping has been a fix, and needs to be controlled, but it also gives me experience to understand others who may do the same thing to give them a moment of passion, something to do to get out of the house.  

She lost her new iphone, while disappointing and  frustrating, in the big scheme of things, really it's just an item and that is perspective...