Fragile

Seeing the devastation in Haiti, I keep thinking, but for the grace of God, that could be us. I have done nothing to deserve a life in a wealthy country and have parents with the resources to send me to good schools and give me shelter, food and endless love and support. It was an accident of birth that means I'm not searching for my husband and child in rubble. Of course, it's also possible that living in San Francisco we may face similar horrors.

I recently learned that Boston has the third largest Haitian community in the U.S. On Friday, I asked one our doormen about his family, knowing he had just been in Haiti over the holidays. He choked up telling me he had lost an uncle and cousins and that there were several more people he hadn't heard about, then said his wife also lost an uncle and cousins. There was such agony in his eyes.

On Saturday, Steve and I watched The Changeling. It's the heartbreaking, true story of a woman searching for her missing child in Los Angeles in the late 1920s. It was an excellent film, but again I was struck by how random such tragedies are. After the movie, Steve and I stood by Grace's crib for several minutes watching her sleep peacefully.

I do have a point here - all the joys and blessings in our lives are so fragile. Such life shattering events are too random to worry about, but they are reminders to hug a loved one, to take a moment and appreciate it all (and send money and prayers to Haiti).