In responding to someone's post on CD.com, I was reminded of this and thought it might make a decent blog entry.
About a year and half ago, my daughter was in the hospital for a week with RSV aggravated by asthma. At 2 years old this can be a fairly serious situation, and of course my wife and I stayed with her in the hospital for the entire time. Any of you that have children will understand the torment you feel as a a parent when you watch your little one suffer and know there is nothing you can do to make it better.
At the time I had grown a little disenchanted with my job and perhaps to some extent with my life in general. I grew convinced that I could get a better paying job somewhere else, where my talents would be recognized, and everyone would acknowledge that I was awesome, etc, etc. I was clearly suffering from "The grass is greener on the other side of the hill" syndrome. and this event was a great wake up call. Even though I was scheduled to work with one of our largest customers here in Austin, my manager gave me zero grief and assured me that there was no problem with my staying with my daughter as long as it took. He flew another engineer in to cover the job I was supposed to be doing and put them up for the entire week while I stayed with my daughter.
Several times a day I had to walk by the waiting room for the children's surgery - any time I went to get clothes, get something to eat, etc. Every time you would see couples in the hall sobbing as they held each other waiting to find out if the most precious part of their life was going to make it or not. Those that weren't crying had the "thousand yard" stare, lost in their own misery, hopes, and fears. I started to wonder what they were going through, what was their story. I came to realize that more than likely, some of them had children that were NOT going to be all right. Some of them had children that had serious problems that were not going to be resolved now, but would linger on for months or years, and may well result in death.
This was a pivotal moment in my life when I realized that my life was GOOD, and two years later this lesson remains very vivid with me.
MY daughter WOULD be going home soon and she WOULD be all right.
My son, my wife, and myself were all in good health.
I have a wife who loves me as much as I love her an that's a lot.
I have a good home.
I like my job and they DO like and respect me and they proved it when the cards were down.
I suppose my point is this. If you feel like your life sucks, and you think you have it bad, try to remember that right now there are hundreds or thousands of couples around the world clinging to each other and sobbing. If you aren't one of them, you need to step back and realize that YOUR life is pretty darn good right now.
About a year and half ago, my daughter was in the hospital for a week with RSV aggravated by asthma. At 2 years old this can be a fairly serious situation, and of course my wife and I stayed with her in the hospital for the entire time. Any of you that have children will understand the torment you feel as a a parent when you watch your little one suffer and know there is nothing you can do to make it better.
At the time I had grown a little disenchanted with my job and perhaps to some extent with my life in general. I grew convinced that I could get a better paying job somewhere else, where my talents would be recognized, and everyone would acknowledge that I was awesome, etc, etc. I was clearly suffering from "The grass is greener on the other side of the hill" syndrome. and this event was a great wake up call. Even though I was scheduled to work with one of our largest customers here in Austin, my manager gave me zero grief and assured me that there was no problem with my staying with my daughter as long as it took. He flew another engineer in to cover the job I was supposed to be doing and put them up for the entire week while I stayed with my daughter.
Several times a day I had to walk by the waiting room for the children's surgery - any time I went to get clothes, get something to eat, etc. Every time you would see couples in the hall sobbing as they held each other waiting to find out if the most precious part of their life was going to make it or not. Those that weren't crying had the "thousand yard" stare, lost in their own misery, hopes, and fears. I started to wonder what they were going through, what was their story. I came to realize that more than likely, some of them had children that were NOT going to be all right. Some of them had children that had serious problems that were not going to be resolved now, but would linger on for months or years, and may well result in death.
This was a pivotal moment in my life when I realized that my life was GOOD, and two years later this lesson remains very vivid with me.
MY daughter WOULD be going home soon and she WOULD be all right.
My son, my wife, and myself were all in good health.
I have a wife who loves me as much as I love her an that's a lot.
I have a good home.
I like my job and they DO like and respect me and they proved it when the cards were down.
I suppose my point is this. If you feel like your life sucks, and you think you have it bad, try to remember that right now there are hundreds or thousands of couples around the world clinging to each other and sobbing. If you aren't one of them, you need to step back and realize that YOUR life is pretty darn good right now.
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