Feeling Thankful

There have been many things happening lately to make me feel thankful for myself and my family. Last Friday a neighbor's house caught on fire. They were just sitting around eating dinner when they noticed smoke and woosh, no more house and 3 of their dogs died. Very scary! I could see the flames from my kitchen window. Luckily they had insurance so eventually they will probably tear down what's left and start over. Here's a link to the article in the local paper. That's my daughter's friend in the picture with her Grandma. http://tracypress.com/content/view/12831/2242/

Sunday, an online friend's husband took his own life. They always seemed to be such the happy family, doing tons of stuff together. I am still in such shock over it! He must have had some really big demons he was fighting. The online community has been AWESOME. Everyone started by making donations to give to Francie. They have raised over $1000.00 and now they are doing a raffle. Here's a link to the raffle. http://www.littleladydesign.com/francieraffle.htm So far it's over $400 raised through the raffle with over a week to go. AWESOME, just AWESOME!! Francie has said she is going to use the money to get new carpet and paint her house so she will be able to sell it faster. She does not want to live at the house anymore, apparently he killed himself in the house.

So oddly enough today I watched The Oprah Show, (haven't watched that in AGES) and the topic of today is SUICIDE. http://www.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/200610/tows_past_20061004.jhtml Isn't that a weird coincidence? There was a woman on there who had jumped off a bridge, an officer had caught her as she went over and held onto her. She was explaining how she just kept telling herself she needed to get to the bridge over and over. There was a few other people and it really seems that when you are in that deep depression like that something just takes over and you have no control over your own actions. Very sad.

Today I was reading the paper at work and there was a horrible accident yesterday evening. http://www.modbee.com/local/pmupdates/story/163830.html This is the road I drive every day to and from work. A couple hours earlier and this could have easily been Trevor and I getting hit.

All these things are making me feel a little sad but also making make sure I treasure the time I have with my family. Although when your kid is going psycho in the middle of Target it's kind of hard to cherish the moment but really I guess we should cherish even those moments because a blink of an eye and they could all be gone.