Perspective

The nature of perspective change really is something to ponder.
It is easy to go about the days in a manner of "getting through them" or "space filling". Some days the trials of sleep deprivation and constant demands of children can send us into momentary depression or in fact all sorts of mechanisms that our brains use to take space from the situation in order to survive.
A week ago a friend of ours was in a horrible accident that has rendered him in a coma with a serious brain injury. As a friend, this is a tragic and saddening thing to watch and go through. As a wife and a parent, it has an added depth, as our friend has a wife and an 11mth old son.
I can't help but ponder the perspective shift, this accident has brought to so many. The daily things, the toddler demands, the sleep deprivation - suddenly these are trials that are quite small and something to be valued. All of a sudden, I am grateful for my whingy 16 mth old (who has an ear infection) because I am here to comfort him. I am grateful for my challenging 3.5 year old because I am here to guide him. I am grateful for the mounting washing because it means we have been wearing our clothes and I am even grateful for the yapping 11yo Maltese - because she and I have journeyed a long time together. What a rich gift it is to be in relationship with others. I have given my partner extra hugs lately and care a little less about the clothes on the floor and the milk left on the counter -
what matters is that we have each other and anything else -we can work it out. We have life and it is to be treasured as the precious gift it is. Let's not wish it away but use it to its full potential.