A Day To Be Grateful

Just finished watching the news, and after seeing the destruction that nature can bring, I am humbled. My daughter is living in NYC with no power, and no phone, unreachable, and I am crazy. It seems no matter how old your children are, and mine is 29, the parenting instinct for your child's safety is as primal as when they are babies.  Life really is so simple, I think we just make it so complicated. Family is about love, and safety. Those are the basics from which all life flows.
For all those families in New Jersey who lost their homes to flood, and all those families in Queens who lost their homes to fire, and for that mother who delivered her baby on a stretcher being carried down 8 flights of stairs in a NYC hospital with no power to be moved to a hospital with power, I bow to your strength and resilience.
I read the other day about accessible happiness. These are the things that you are always in control of and that always make you happy. These are the small things, the often forgotten things that always  make you smile. Hearing my daughter's voice on the phone, always a #1, but fresh flowers on my living room coffee table, and a delicious treat at the end of the day. Simple pleasures, simple happiness. What are yours? What are your children's?, your partner's?, and your friends? Perhaps if we paid more attention to the simple pleasures, ours and those important to the one's we love, I don't know, I just think we would be happier, and when the unexpected comes like Hurricane Sandy..we can be fortified with love for self and love for others.