Sometimes it takes something small to make you appreciate all of the things you have.

For instance, I was housesitting again last week. I like to help my friend out by doing this for him. It gives me a chance to get some privacy and to enjoy all the toys that they have. I like the flat screen television with surround sound that they have. I really enjoy listening to their satellite radio too. I can usually get quite a bit of writing done while I am there because I can just put on the radio and write. I don’t have to worry about switching CDs or anything else. I just let the radio play and write, write, write.

So, when I got to their place that first night last week, I immediately turned on the satellite radio. For some reason though, I could only get three channels in; one was a sports channel, one was news, and one was a preview channel. I tried everything I could to get this thing to work, but it didn’t.

At first this was a terrible inconvenience. I wanted to write and listen to some of my favourite music and I couldn’t. Instead, I had to listen to regular radio. I don’t normally listen to regular radio. I listen to Internet radio, mix show podcasts, or CDs. Since I didn’t have any of these things over there, I had to make do that first night.

This small problem of mine seemed stupid and inconsequential to me when I thought about why I was there. My friend was in the hospital because he is battling cancer and is going through some tough times financially because of it. He probably can’t afford the monthly fee for it anymore. How could I be upset over not having satellite radio under these circumstances?

He has been battling this for some time now. He hasn’t been able to work and has actually had to sell a few of the things in his house. His wife is still working but they have basically lost half of their income. It must be hard.

It makes me appreciate everything all the more now. I have everything I need in life, and I have my health. There are things that I don’t have and would like to have but I shouldn’t focus on that. It is important to realize all the things that we do have and to be happy with all the little things we can take for granted.