Perspective.

Hi all,

I've been meaning to write about some of the SPCA events I've been doing over the past few weeks, but today my ideas got stopped in their tracks.

I went to a funeral today.

I didn't personally know the departed, it was the brother of one of my mom's close friends. His family hasn't disclosed the details surrounding his passing.

When my mom told me a few days ago, I practically threw a fit. I had JUST gotten home, I had things I wanted to get done today, it's Christmas and I didn't want to spend a whole day at a depressing funeral.

But being there today made me feel absolutely ashamed for thinking any of those things, because I was suddenly surrounded by his close friends and family thinking the exact same thing. They don't want to be burying a loved one this Christmas any more than I wanted to attend such a burial.

How must they be feeling, his parents who are saying goodbye to their son only days before Christmas? Or his sisters who looked up to their big brother?

I'm ashamed that I complained about the funeral. Looking a little bit further back, I'm ashamed I complained at all about having to come home for Christmas and not spend it with Dylan's family, about having to deal with my family's signature drama, about being cooped up with my mother for a whole week and a half. There's people right this very moment who don't have a home or a family to come home to this holiday season, or who are missing their loved ones, like the family I saw today, clinging to one another to ease the hurt.

My message today is this: keep things in perspective. Yes, we all have things not go our way sometimes, but there's always someone who has it worse. Always.