Being Thankful

I think some days that management brings out the worst in me, personality-wise. I get so frustrated and impatient with staffing issues and fixing other people's mistakes. However, today I've been glad for the opportunity to have that kind of job. This morning (while I was locked out of my house and my car and waiting for AAA to come let me into my car) I almost finished the book I was reading. Then at lunch I read the last few pages. The book's been simmering around in my head for the last few days, and then I caught up on some blog reading tonight (yes, Becky, you helped to inspire this post).
It's easy to get caught up in the struggles of life and the things that get in the way of my doing what I want to do - 96 inches of shelving that won't fit onto an 84 inch base, locking the keys in the house on the way to work in the morning, fixing and/or apologizing for other people's mistakes, kicking kids off of library property for throwing rocks at yellow jacket nests, killing yellow jackets with a fly swatter, bruises that appear without my knowing how I got them - and get discouraged by having to deal with them. Then I forget to be thankful for all the things that have gone well in my life. High school, college, the opportunity to have a career I enjoy, the encouragement to read when I was growing up, the opportunity to go to grad school, family that loves me and supports me in what I'm doing.
The book I read this week was Stolen Innocence by Elissa Walls. She grew up in the FLDS sect, made it to her 8th grade graduation, was married off at 14, and never finished high school. She escaped eventually, and appears to be happy now, but her story made me think about all the things in my life I tend to take for granted. I don't often read "misery porn" books, but this one was less a dwelling on the misery and more a "this was my life and I got out". I'm glad I read it.