It could be worse...

Much as I love my mom, listening to her complain ad nauseum about this and that can be draining for me.

I had some shopping to do today so I called Mom and asked her if she'd like to go to lunch, my treat. Of course she did, lol.

Anyhoo, I had some prescriptions to fill and on the way back from dropping them off, I ran into an old coworker.

The last I'd heard, her daughter's newborn twins almost died and it was touch and go for a while, yet she greeted each customer with courtesy and a slow, shy smile. Each time she talked about her grandkids she would tear up a bit but kept that smile going.

Today, her eyes were redrimmed and I could tell the smile was a bit harder to do, but there it was. I was in a hurry to get out of the store but there was something about her which caused me to stop and ask about her grandkids.

She told me they were fine, yet still there was something I couldn't define. Then she said her brother passed away last month. Specifically, he had been in a terrible three car accident, he was one of the drivers. His best friend, I assumed, had been in the car with him and died instantly. Her brother, lifeflighted to Pittsburgh, passed away on the operating table.

I didn't know what to say. The first words out of my mouth, before she told me how he died was, "that sucks." Have you ever said something and thought "Lord, take me now?" Well.....

Anyway, when the story finally came out, she also told me her father had also passed away recently. I finally gave her a hug, after telling her I had no words to express my feelings, and said it would be better, eventually.

Yet, with everything she's been through, there was that shy smile. Thinking of all those people I've heard complaining about this and about that (including myself) nothing can be worse than this.

Yes, when I think of complaining for a while, I'll remember my old coworker and think, "It could be worse..."