I was texting a friend from the ICU this morning and I figured this text message would impact more here. Life and our day-to-day is about perspective.

Did you start your day grateful for breathing in bed? I woke up in my bed which was two chairs facing each other with pillows all around my crunched 6’1 body in 3 feet of chair space. As I woke up, I watched my dad wake up needing a oxygen masks to breathe.

Did you start your day grateful for being able to get out of bed? I then watched as two nurses put a sling under my dad’s back and attach it to a mechanical lift that pulled him out of bed and sat him onto a bedside toilet.

Did you start your day with self pride & dignity? Next, I watched two nurses help my dad get comfortable on a toilet since that was the first time he sat up out of bed in 11 days in the hospital. He gingerly stood up as a nurse used an entire bag of wet wipes to clean him up after his business.

I’m the first to admit I need to be reminded daily of the gifts in my life. If you are reading this, you are blessed. Your eyes and/or ears work just fine. You have time in your day to read a blog and you have someone in your life who cares about you even if it’s just me at the moment. You are loved, you are appreciated and you are blessed. Have a great day!