Say what you need to say....but I really dont know what to say.

Today, or tonight I should say, I did some last minute grocery shopping while the boys were driving my mother in law crazy at her house. I was excited to get to escape from all the chaos that comes with raising 3 men. It took me 3 times to park my van straight in the parking place. After 2 years, I still can't park it. I'm used to my compact neon I drove for almost 10 years. I loved Miss Bertha Blue. Thats what I named her. Man the stories that little car could tell. heeheehee.

Anyhow, after standing in line for 30 minutes I drove to Burger King. I was starved and there was no way I could wait until I got home to eat. I'm a growing girl. I need my sustenance. After I placed my order I drove around to the first paying window and was surprised to see a girl I went to school with working the money window. I recognized her right off the bat and I know she knew who I was but she didnt say anything. I didnt want to embarrass her so I didnt make en effort to converse with her. I'm not saying there is anything at all wrong with working at fast food. I know people who have worked long and hard and built an entire career in the industry. I was just shocked to see this particular girl to end up in this particular choice of employment. But I have to say in this economic times, its lucky to even have a paying job at all.

She was one of "those" girls. I was jealous of her not because she was beautiful. I mean she was okay but she was on the chubby side and she was pretty average looking. I was jealous because she just seemed to have a great home life. Her parents were still married in high school. She worked after school at her moms office. She got a nice car our sophomore year. She has quite a few friends. I wanted her life. I wanted that and I didnt have it. And then it was just so sad to see her so haggard at 30 and working somewhere that I KNOW shes overqualified for.

Then, last week, I saw a friend of ours in the store and she told me how the church adopted her family so that her kids could have Christmas presents. She told me that she has been getting groceries from the food bank since her husband was laied off in September. She said that she was waiting for their electric to be cut off cause they owe over $700 to the power company.

I turned the corner to see another friend who told me about her recent seperation from her husband who left at Thanksgiving. She's having a tough time and depressed and all I could do was offer her shoulder to cry on. I didnt know what to say. What do you say to someone going through this?

I felt so lucky. So lucky to be who I am. I felt wealthy. Not wealthy in the "i have loads of money" sense but in the sense that I have a lot of good things to be grateful for in my life. I was lucky because I was able to give my kids the exact presents that they asked for this year without having to sacrifice a few bills or cut back on groceries to do it. We worked our butts off to be able to do it but we did it.

I really hope everyone has a great holiday. I wish I could visit every single one of you and personally hand you a card myself. I wish I could buy all those kids who wont get something from Santa, a gift. I wish I could feed all the hungry people in the world. I wish so many many things. I wish for good things for every single one of you.

Peace.Love.and Spongy cake.