The power went out. Only for a few minutes, just long enough to render me grateful when it came back on. It's funny how it takes losing something to realize you want it. My mind went to the appliances that were mid cycle, that would need to be restarted. I wondered how far reaching the outage was, just my road, or several blocks. Then before I could finish worrying, it blinked back on. 

If you want to talk to someone who appreciates walking, find someone who just went through a knee replacement. If you want to speak to someone who is conscious of the miracle of children, listen to a woman who struggled with infertility.

A friend told me her marriage brushed up against demise. The implosion of trust caught her off guard, and it felt like an earthquake. The ground her relationship had stood on for twenty years began to shake. 

But the tremors are subsiding, and she is immensely more grateful for her husband than she was last year. It takes work to rebuild, and fear uses up part of her caloric intake. But she believes they will come out the other side.

I wonder what it would take for me to value my knees before I lose them, my home before it burns down, my marriage before I am widowed.