Last night I had the pleasure of, for the fourth year in a row, reading "The Night Before Christmas" to my kids from the same book that'd been read to me, by my father, in my youth. It's a treasured tradition. Then, tonight, I helped soothe and calm the nerves of my son as he lay strapped to a board in the emergency room of the same hospital he was born in while novocaine shots and stitches were applied to a cut on his finger from an accident with a pair of scissors. The incident interrupted our Christmas dinner with family, whose departure I missed, and upon returning home, it just felt like Christmas had come and gone without my having had a chance to fully engage.Yet helping my son get through the experience reminded me of how much I really do love him, and his typically challenging behavior and the difficulties of dealing with a strong-willed child are overshadowed greatly by what a sweet and loving little boy he truly is at heart. It gave me pause to think about 'the bigger picture' too. And spending Christmas Night in an emergency room reminds one that horrible thing can and do happen to people every single day. Christmas included.
In fact, as awful as it is to consider, somebody probably died today, unexpectedly and tragically. So fretting over a few stitches and a missed meal seems trivial. Right? It's all about perspective sometimes.
So the day is coming to a close, and as it does, I'm taking solace in watching "It's A Wonderful Life" as I write this, which never ceases to infuse the same perspective adjustment as well.
Merry Christmas, friends, and family. And remember, no man is a failure who has friends.