On Being Grateful

I don't know if you you've noticed or not, but, I think I may have complained a time or two (or a hundred) about the heat here in AZ.  There really is no secret about how much I hate it and I'm really good at complaining about it.  But sometimes, things happen that make me feel so guilty for all the complaining.  Because while the heat is obnoxious, I can go from my air conditioned house, to my air conditioned car, to work or the grocery store or really anywhere and be in an air conditioned environment.  And by and large the heat really never causes any inconvenience other than once a month when I have to pay for all that air conditioning. 

So when disasters hit in other parts of the country, I always feel guilty about complaining about the heat.  Because we are so lucky here in the Southwest.  We don't get earthquakes, tornadoes, blizzards...or hurricanes.  The most we deal with is some flooding when the monsoon hits, and if you don't live in the flood plane, then pretty much you're good to go most of the time.  Nothing as dramatic as what has happened on the eastern seaboard the past few days.  And so, since this is a post about being grateful, I have to say...I'm very grateful for where I live...even if it is hotter than hades.

I'm also grateful that I have a very level headed daughter who seems to never lose her cool when faced with adverse circumstances.  You see, she has spent the last four days stuck in Manhattan.  She can't get a flight out until Friday.  She flew back to NJ for a wedding last Wednesday.  She and a friend from high school decided to make a vacation of it.  They've been planning this trip for months.  They went to NJ early for the wedding and then the plan was to go to NYC on Sunday and come home yesterday.  Sandy had other plans. 

When I talked to her on Sunday I expressed my concern about their plans to still go into Manhattan.  She assured me that where they were staying would be much better than staying in Jersey and since all the flights had been cancelled by then, there was no way to get out of the area anyway.  I decided to trust her, because what else could I do.  Surprisingly my anxiety level wasn't too bad.  And, of course, as always, she was right. 

She works for a large luxury hotel chain and she already had reservations at one of their hotels in Times Square.  There could be worse places to ride out a storm.  Thankfully the storm did not affect the area where she was too badly, as you can see by the picture below.  This was taken Monday night from the window of their hotel room.  I've added her caption from FB below the picture.

For everyone who has been wondering...this is our view from midtown. No flooding, we all still have power, and the rain is even taking a break.

So, here is what I'm grateful for today:

1.  My daughter is safe, dry, has a roof over her head, food to eat and great friends to spend the time with.

2.  None of her friends were harmed during the storm.

3.  All my family and friends that live in the area are safe and sound.

4.  She works for an awesome company that has comped not only her extra nights but also all her meals.

5.  NYC is providing buses that will take passengers back to Newark for $16.  Thus saving her a ton of money on what could have been a very costly cab ride back to the airport.

6.  They were able to get out and about a little bit yesterday and more today and thankfully they will be able to salvage a tiny bit of their "vacation".

So, there you have it.  So much to be grateful for...even the heat...maybe.