Gratitude With a Twist

Envy in reverse: be thankful for all you don’t have

My sister has everything I don’t have.

Anne has been happily married to Tom for 38 years; I was miserably married to “Dick” for 17 years.

Tom is a partner in a top accounting firm; Anne has never had to work.

Dick’s annual salary, when he deigned to hold a job, was less than Tom earned in a month; I had to work full-time whilst my three kids were young.

Tom is a delightful man, always a gracious host; they have lots of friends. Dick was, shall we say, aptly named; nobody would come to our parties nor invite us to theirs.

My sister has everything I don’t have.

Anne, her loving husband, and luxurious lifestyle notwithstanding, has been wracked by unremitting depression. Over the course of 40-plus years of misery, she’s endured electroshock therapy and exhausted the plethora of pharmaceutical options.

Anne’s mental illness is further compounded by an eating disorder of 50-years’ duration, consequential to which a multitude of health problems have ensued.

Not one of which I have either.