I was floored!

I just had one of those profound moments in life: a "light bulb moment" or an
"uh-huh moment" as our iconic talk show hosts might refer to them. 

Here is what happened...a grandma of one of my day home kids came to pick up her little granddaugther today.  She also happens to be related to me, so in some ways I felt even more embarrased by the state of my house and the fact that her granddaughter was so dirty from playing outside all day.  I gave her the little girls shoes in the living room, near my front door, and she said she would make sure the little girl did not walk on my floors, as to not spread the dirt around.  I looked at her and said "look at my floors, they are awful already...I can't stand them" (I then went on to say that I regret getting laminate floors and wished for real hardwood).  Her response surprised me a little, as I wasn't expecting someone to be so very understanding about the reasons behind my dirty floors and to have such good reasons for why I should be happy with what I have. 

She said this: "Sara, you don't want hardwood right now, not with little kids.  Wait until your kids are grown up and you have more money to spend.  (this next part is what I found so profound) You are so lucky to have this beautiful house with so much room and a big yard, you even have air conditioning.  I lived in a trailer for 25 years and not once did my kids ever complain about it and say they wanted a house to live in.  They don't think about it that way, they don't care what their house, or their floors look like. Your kids will not ever complain aobut the house they lived in as kids, even when they are eighty, they will never say they wanted more as kids."

The thing that made this conversation so much more than it was is that I was just told this past weekend that this woman has MS and is, at times, in so much pain she can't even function.  I am not sure how bad her MS is or what the future will hold for her, but I could see in her eyes that she takes nothing for granted in life.  I realized that I take far too much in my life for granted: healthy children, a loving husband, a beautiful house, food on my fridge every day, etc. 

For now on I will look at my dirty laminate floors in a totally different way.  When I look at them I will no longer see them only as a cheaper version of the floors that I really wanted, but they are the place that my children play, the place that my family sits, the place where my job gives me so much joy each day...they are not just floors, they are the foundation of my childrens life...even if they are filthy!

SJ