As we approach Thanksgiving...

Sometimes all it takes is a single email to change your perspective for the day. I logged into my work email this morning and within the hour received this:

My uncle had a heart attack last Thursday and died on his flight home from Reno…It is weird how the saying “it happens in three’s” always seems to be true…. My dad’s friend had a heart attack two weeks ago and my mom’s aunt passed away a week and a half ago.

It’s also ironic that last night on the long plane ride from the east coast back to Los Angeles I couldn’t sleep. I have a slight fear of flying so it’s not strange that as I was cruising 22,000 feet above ground that I thought about death. I brooded and ruminated the night away in my half-awake mode as I looked out into the darkness beyond my airplane window, at the lights and city streets far below that looked like electric veins, or a million little Vegas strips dotted across the land.

I thought about how we’re both stronger than we realize and vulnerable and weak, too.

I thought about how we complain about taking the stairs but shouldn’t we be grateful that we have legs that are healthy and work that we can take the stairs with?

I thought about how we love our quesadillas and our pizza and the thousand other dishes that are terrible for our bodies but when it comes down to a single moment, or a heart attack, it’s too late.

I thought about grouchy days and phone calls ended without an “I love you,” or a “Thank you,” or those simple humble words: “I’m sorry.” How silly those moments are.

In the shower this morning I towel dried myself off and thought, “I can do this myself. Isn’t that amazing?” I can move my arms and reach around my back and bend my legs--and I took note that I recognized that perhaps one day I won’t be able to. Hopefully I will be an old, old woman when and if that days comes.

I thought about how we take moments, seconds, for granted. Feeling the wind on our face, the sun on our arms. The sip of a good cup of coffee. The voice of an old friend. The kindness of a stranger.

We’re approaching the season for being thankful. For being grateful for our health and our families and our friends and the hundreds of other things that create a happy and healthy life.

Be thankful. Be kind.