Just Be Grateful

I can’t believe this just happened to me. I wrote my article on a piece of paper while on the plane, and when I got off—I left it behind. There’s nothing worse.
But still, I have so much to be grateful for…

The plane left on time, I managed to get some sleep, I had a spare seat next to me, my luggage arrived, the next flight took off on time, and I had enough food. No need to elaborate!

We must be grateful to Hashem every minute of every day.

Back to the article. It all began when I tried to call my beautiful friend for her birthday. This was the message she sent me back:

“Hi Sori, thanks for your wonderful birthday wishes. My birthday was quite eventful. I woke up and my children wanted to take me out for breakfast. We went and had a lovely time, but my little granddaughter got burned by a coffee. It was pretty bad, but luckily she didn’t have to go to the hospital.

After that, I came home. I had told my friend I would help her with a simcha she was involved in. A medical emergency arose and things did not go as planned. Life has a way of working through these challenges and the simcha continued.

But then…my daughter’s dog ran off!

We were going crazy looking for him for hours, even knocking on our neighbor’s door.

Luckily, someone had found him and taken him into their house while she tried to find the owner (unfortunately he wasn’t wearing his tags). Someone put two and two together and he was returned!

It was quite an eventful day, to say the least!”

We must be grateful to Hashem every minute of every day.

Last week, I was in my favorite store, TJ Maxx, when a woman frantically knocked on my dressing room door. I could clearly tell she was Jewish from the Magen David necklace she wore. She asked if I’d seen a pair of car keys—she had been in that room earlier and had lost them somewhere in the store.

I felt so bad for her. She was in tears, explaining that she was having a photoshoot because her in-laws were in town and she just needed to find something to wear. It was Erev Shabbos. Losing your keys is stressful—losing them on Erev Shabbos is horrible.

We must be grateful to Hashem every minute of every day.

Taking walks in New Jersey is lovely. The trees are in full bloom, the grass is bright green—everything looks lush. The only problem is that in some areas, there are no sidewalks.

So there we were, walking on the street—my daughter and I pushing my granddaughter—and she told me to stay close, as cars were zooming past. In America, cars don’t know how to drive slowly. They only know one speed: fast.

We came to a stop sign, and a car came zooming through. I was lucky enough to see that the woman driving wasn’t just in a rush—she had no intention of stopping. Because I was walking in the USA, my eyes were on high alert. It was a close call. The pram wasn’t hit, and we were all fine—just a little shaken up.

We must be grateful to Hashem every minute of every day.

Out of pure desperation (and a little courage), I took the wheel and drove to the shopping mall. Driving on the other side of the road in New Jersey was… intense.
On the highways here, there’s no “slow lane”—it’s fast and faster. It felt like wild animals were running the roads, and I was this little Melbourne mouse trying to keep up.

I got on the highway and started saying Tefilat Haderech. It kept me calm for about two minutes. Then I had to keep repeating the same three perakim of Tehillim over and over. I felt a bit bad for Hashem—I was stuck on repeat!

Eventually, I decided to switch it up and say the 12 Torah Pesukim. When I finished those, I went back to Tehillim. Meanwhile, my Waze wasn’t working well, so I switched to Google Maps… and missed the turnoff.

Baruch Hashem, after a few more hiccups, I got there.

We must be grateful to Hashem every minute of every day.

After finishing my shopping expedition, I left the mall—only to realize I couldn’t find my daughter’s car. I knew it was black, but I had no idea what the number plate was.

After 20 minutes of searching, I finally gathered the courage to ask a stranger if her keys had a buzzer that made the car beep. He kindly showed me how to use it—and there was the car, right behind me!

We must be grateful to Hashem every minute of every day.

Since my daughter was away, I had to pick the kids up from school. I begged Hashem: Please, no hiccups today!
Baruch Hashem, I drove like a real American and got to school with time to spare.

When we got home, I breathed a deep sigh of relief and thanked Hashem that nothing eventful had happened.

Well… except one thing. Because I had driven so fast, the car key—sitting on my lap—had slipped down between the seats. I couldn’t get it out for love or money.

Baruch Hashem, our lovely neighbors came to the rescue. First the wife tried, but no luck. Then the husband appeared with a wire hanger and—voilà!—fished the key out.

We must really thank Hashem for every minute of every day.

When things go well—when you cross the street safely, eat breakfast without someone getting hurt, find your car easily, don’t lose your keys, handbag, or your sanity—it’s all a miracle.

Things can, and do, sometimes go wrong. And most of the time, we don’t even know how close we were to trouble.

Let’s all thank Hashem for the little things, as well as the big kindnesses.
He will repay you with even more blessings.