Thankful Thurday

Today I am thankful for my problems. Or, my "problems". I could make a pretty lengthy list of complaints right this second. I won't, as most of them are probably pretty evident in my other posts. The thing about The Things That Keep Me Up At Night is that they are so NOT a  big deal.

All of my problems are First World in nature. This morning I heard an interview on NPR's Morning Edition that hit me like a B.F.O. (Blinding Flash of the Obvious). This young woman, Clementine Wamariya, was recently appointed by President Obama to serve on the Board of the Holocaust Museum. Lucky lady, right? What an honor, right? Well, I guess... if you consider running for your life (literally) at the age of 6 from genocide in Rwanda lucky:

Horrific memories will always haunt Clemantine Wamariya, who was just a 6-year-old child in Rwanda when she says she hid in a banana tree, listening to the screams coming from her grandparents' house as members of her family were murdered. (Thanks, Oprah.com, for the imagery.)

The 20-something woman is an American citizen now. A graduate of Harvard. Honored by Oprah for an essay she wrote. I allowed myself to imagine what would have become of this girl if she had all the privileges I enjoyed in my young life. If she can go from refugee to Harvard grad with so very many horrible circumstances in her way, how would she have soared with a life featuring a stable, loving, "wealthy" (it's all relative) family, community and nation?

So, this Thursday I am thankful for the annoyances that I call problems. I'm sure tomorrow (or sooner!) I'll be back to detailing the ways in which my life is imperfect. But for today, I embrace each and every struggle.

Now. Who ate all the dark chocolate chips?? Come ON, people! How can life be so cruel????