Put in perspective in Kendallville, Indiana

Right now I live in a small town in a nondescript state in the Midwest – nothing exotic or romantic about Indiana . . . no Big Sky country, no mountains, etc. At times I have sighed about that. And in this small town in this blah state, I have been feeling a bit down this holiday season.

Then, just a little while ago, I received news that a four-year-old little girl in my very extended family has a mass in her stomach and it is cancer. I remember when my sons were four – blond hair, baby teeth, pajamas with feet in them. I don’t even want to walk up close to imagining how I would have felt at such news. Walking around the periphery in my mind leaves me dumbfoundedly numb. What awful news to receive.

This is, of course, the kind of news that will make one feel down in the holiday season, and it sure makes my piques and frustrations seem embarrassingly minute. But, human nature being what it is, I’m certain I will again lose my perspective and be whining. It’s kind of sad to realize that.