Thankful

Why does it take a tragedy to remember to be thankful?

I started out this night frustrated. I ordered a specific gift and the company I ordered from sent the wrong thing. Not really cool. Especially considering what I ordered was discontinued and showed there were only 4 in stock when I ordered and now show none. I would rather they sent me an email saying they were sold out so I could find another gift instead of me paying them, them sending it now me having to deal with them.

Also, we bought Amelia a Hello Kitty Karaoke machine from Best Buy (shhhhhh, don't tell her). I wanted it before Christmas Eve so I spent the extra $11 on "expedited" shipping rather than free shipping that guaranteed it on Christmas Eve. I actually just wanted to make sure I had it for Christmas and felt that having it delivered standard was a bit of a gamble. I checked the tracking number this morning and it was rescheduled. I was pretty pissed. So I tried calling them earlier today and had some rude lady act dumb when I said "ka ro key" instead of "kay ree o key". Then I sat on hold. I didn't have time to hold much longer so I hung up and sent an email. They sent an automatic message back telling me to check their website for the answer or call them. I called again tonight and was disconnected when they tried to transfer me. So I called back and got another proper-pronunciation person who finally transferred me to the online orders division.

By this time I was mad and Best Buy was on my list, and I ain't talking the good one. As I was stewing in my anger, I was watching the news when a clip came on and said that two young children were killed in a city just a few hours away today. Kind of put my issues into perspective.

It reminded me of the Christmas of 1999 when we lost Candace and Tyler. The memories of that time started to come back and I cried. As soon as I started crying the nicest customer service rep got on the phone. By this point I felt stupid asking her to reimburse my shipping but she did and she was wonderful about it. I feel ridiculous that I am obsessing about gifts that were wrong or not delivered on time and not too far away from me there is a family with broken hearts that probably has presents under their tree. Presents they hoped would make their children so happy but now will never be opened. They would trade every Christmas gift just to have their babies back.

I thank God for my family and pray he keeps them safe. I wish it didn't take such a tragedy to make me remember why we celebrate. Wishing everyone a safe holiday.