We just had another new addition to our family. I never thought I'd have children, let alone grandchildren, and now I have great grandchildren. Go figure. Though the father of my great grandchildren got started a bit early (I won't be sixty till later this year) I discover that in spite of the difficulties in my life I have been truly blessed.

I think that all too often we tend to dwell on the bad things, the negatives, in our lives while overlooking the positive things. Sure, those seem small in comparison to the struggle to just get along at times, I know that all too well. But it's the little things that often keep one going. A pet you don't want to leave alone and bereft if you aren't there, someone you promised to do something for or with, or just the next book in that series that you've been reading isn't out yet.

Funny how little things can seem important at times, isn't it?

But those things tend to add up if you'll just stop and think about them, even when things are generally going bad.

It's a precarious balance most of the time, yes. But it is a balance if you just look at things from a different direction off and on.

I'm not peering at things through those fictional rose colored glasses here, either, no matter how this has sounded so far. I recently had some meds changed and that really messed with me and my concentration. Which given how proud I am of my memory and other things involving keeping track of things, was a real mess for awhile. I was sinking back into depression because of that, but then had to stop and think about the other side of all this.

I'm alive, and with a few exceptions, am pretty healthy. I have an extended family who care for me and the really close ones know about me, my past, and all that and just accept it as being part of the rather complex puzzle I tend to be. At times I just have to sit back in wonder at my great good luck to have found people like that. Or that they found me.

During the past few years, I've had serious health problems, though that seems like a contradiction to the previous line, but trust me, you can have one thing badly wrong while the rest of you is in pretty good shape. I've lost a house, and a lot of what I'd owned, sold things that were precious simply because we needed to eat or pay a bill. But I'm still here, and I haven't quit.

Okay, sorry for the soapbox thing here. It's just that little Logan's birth today really brought home how much I still have in spite of the losses.

I think that most of us could say the same if we just take a good look at things without feeling as if nothing will ever work out.

Maggie