being grateful

yesterday a little baby boy from our community passed away after a long battle with cancer.  his family belongs to the same parish our preschool is at and i saw firsthand how the community rose up to support this family.  facebook pages were started to inform folks of fundraisers and to simply ask people to pray.  people  turned out in droves to do whatever they could.  in the end, this baby boy got some peace and slipped away from this earth.  i first found out about his passing on facebook.  of course, when i was trying to tune out my own child who was driving me crazy.  then just like that i realized how lucky i was to have a boy who threw tantrums, spills milk on the rug, calls me princess when i wear a skirt, makes himself fart, refuses to go to bed, hugs me when i don't feel good, and is a healthy boy.
then this morning i wake up and see the devastation that is hurricane sandy.  thousands and thousands of people without power, damaged homes, or worse.  kids who are mostly likely pretty scared. it made me realize that in the end all this trouble with the drought, earlier this year,  in my part of the country was small stuff compared to what the east coast is going through.
it's too bad that is takes tragedies for us to realize what we have and to be grateful.  i guess that's how life works.  today i am grateful and send much love to those who need it.