Be glad for what you've got! (From Hereford Times)

Be glad for what you've got!

1:04pm Tuesday 24th July 2007

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Watching the flooding over the last few weeks has brought to mind the hurricanes I've seen hit Florida and up into Louisiana. Devastation, lack of electricity and drinking water. Lost homes, lost transportation, lost lives.
We all take for granted that each morning when we step into the shower that the water will be there. The fact that we can flush the toilet or wash the dishes is just a given in our modern day society. Just being without any of these conveniences must be difficult at best.
I've never experienced any of these things first hand. I've never lost my home or personal possessions to wind or water or fire. Yet just an hour away from us, that very thing is happening as I type this. Am I thankful, yes, a thousand times yes!!!
This type of tragedy puts my silly little life into perspective. The annoyance of every day things like sorting out this very complicated move from England to America is nothing compared to wondering if you are going to have a house to go home to at the end of the day. Packing up all the albums and photographs is nothing compared to knowing that you've lost baby photos and pictures of long gone loved ones to the water and mud brought by the flash floods, no time to get them out.
Yes this flooding will no doubt have the knock on effect of higher insurance rates which we will all moan about until it happens to us and we need to make a claim.
Lets be happy we have our health, our families, our homes and reach out and help someone in some small way. With the timing as it is and needing to get rid of a lot of things we can't take with us, we are donating whatever household goods that are still usable to various charities in hopes that someone who needs help with have it. I might also recommend a Yahoo user group called www.freecycle.org. I registered with them over the weekend to give away a set of sofas we didn't need. They were gone within the day. It's a good way to pass along something you can't use anymore. Remember that what might be old and tatty to you, might be a real treasure to someone who has lost everything!!