Lesson of Gratitude

If you know me well, and hopefully, if you are reading this, you do! Then you know that I tend to like to deviate from the traditional, etc. I am all about the originality! Which is why I have decided to share a story when gratitude was more difficult for me, rather than all the things I am automatically grateful for...

Since I attended most of high school in the Philippines, and my coordination was awful (knowing now it was from the brain injury) I was driver license-less until the age of 19, almost 20. To make a long story short, two days before my 20th birthday, having only been driving for about 3 months, I had a car accident in my parents car (they were still living in the Philippines) and I totaled the front end beyond repair.

For some, or most, this may not be a big deal, but for me it was huge. The initial experience felt like a nightmare for me and it was years before I was able to drive again. I had finally gained my vehicular independence and it was gone- fast. I was frustrated that there didn't seem to be some grand reason why I'd had to experience that. I got through it the best I could but it was far from easy.

Rewind to a year ago- when I was asked to give a talk on gratitude in sacrament meeting. Thinking about what I could say, I thought first about having to withdraw from the teaching program 3 months shy of graduation. However, this was followed by "but if that hadn't happened, then a,b,c,d may not have happened." Displaying a lack of humility, I declared myself to be pretty good at being grateful.

Then the humility kicked in.... and I realized that I didn't have much gratitude in spite of the car accident. I wasn't fully driving yet, but I'd had a lot of practice by then. It was a start. I decided that it was a great time to make a list of car accident gratitude.
Here is the list:

• Right after the car accident happened, neighbors surrounded the car and started asking me if they could call someone for me. I started giving them names and phone numbers- and they started making phone calls
• They were able to get a hold of my Uncle Russell, and he came to the scene just as they were loading me into the ambulance on a body board. (Not trying to be dramatic, that's just how it happened!) I will always be grateful that he was there, and even though I couldn't see him, just hearing his voice gave me comfort.
  
• My Uncle Russell also followed the ambulance to the hospital, waited with me while I was waiting for a doctor, kept me company since I was immobilized and could only stare at the ceiling, and wiped dried blood off my face- not too much blood, though. Just scratches and a very fat lip.
  
• Grateful that at least the EMT's in the ambulance were calm- I was hysterical! Not a result of their efforts to try and calm me, though....
  

• I did hit another car, and there were people in the car, but no one was seriously hurt, nor was I.
  
• When the airbag deployed, I got chemical burn marks on my clothes- my sister Jenn, cleaner extraordinaire, got my clothes clean again!
• Jenn also arranged for me to get to the towing yard (after several phone calls) and retrieve my personal items from the car.
• Another thing she (Jenn) did, seriously an act of love, was that since I didn't have my insurance info with me at the hospital, so I started getting bills. She arranged to have them sent to her house, so I didn't have to worry about it. (I was stressed enough without bills.....)

• I did have to go to court- I had never even been to the princpal's office before and there I was pleading guilty to "failure to yield?" Yeah, it was a bit surreal.... but the fine I had to pay was small! ($95.00, I think) And again, Jenn was there with me!
  

I am sure there is more but for now.... I love how the scriptures teach us that to "live in Thanksgiving daily" and "be grateful in all things" Not just when we feel like it, not just when it's convenient, or when things are going well. And we are not alone to face those times when it harder to be/feel grateful.
P.S. Unrelated to this post... due to the fact my current schedule is intense and time consuming, I will be taking a leave of absence from grad school until I take one class in the summer, back at it again in the fall. It won't delay my graduation, it will make next year's spring semester more full, but I would rather have one really hard semester, knowing that this is the end, then keep going year round and have 3 consecutive kind of hard semesters. Besides my brain needs a break!

Happy holidays, Everyone!