Why I'm not as pissed as I was about the stove

(well, I am, but let's just say I've gained some perspective).

I was mad because I can't bake for my guests on Sunday. (Everything else I'm doing is cold or done on the stovetop.) I should be even more angry because that woman's advice to call first thing today and have them call the routing office? No service appointments at all today; they're closed due to the holidays. So why am I not going out to shoot up my local Sears?

Because there is nothing to make you appreciate the pettiness of being upset over not being able to make cookies when you have the ability to feed your friends gobs of food than having Thanksgiving dinner with, among other people, a couple from China who described exactly what the famine of the early '60s there was like, people eating leaves and tree bark, not being able to take a bit of food outside because people would snatch it from your hand, people dying all around you from starvation. I felt really ashamed of myself. And further to appreciate what we have in this country, add in a couple from Hungary with perspective on the situation there pre-collapse of the Soviet Union.

Oh, yes, my stove issue is now relegated to where it belongs: an annoyance (that Sears will hear about), but one that if it's the worst of my worries I should be glad. Now, about my retirement accounts . . .

Why I'm not as pissed as I was about the stove

(well, I am, but let's just say I've gained some perspective).

I was mad because I can't bake for my guests on Sunday. (Everything else I'm doing is cold or done on the stovetop.) I should be even more angry because that woman's advice to call first thing today and have them call the routing office? No service appointments at all today; they're closed due to the holidays. So why am I not going out to shoot up my local Sears?

Because there is nothing to make you appreciate the pettiness of being upset over not being able to make cookies when you have the ability to feed your friends gobs of food than having Thanksgiving dinner with, among other people, a couple from China who described exactly what the famine of the early '60s there was like, people eating leaves and tree bark, not being able to take a bit of food outside because people would snatch it from your hand, people dying all around you from starvation. I felt really ashamed of myself. And further to appreciate what we have in this country, add in a couple from Hungary with perspective on the situation there pre-collapse of the Soviet Union.

Oh, yes, my stove issue is now relegated to where it belongs: an annoyance (that Sears will hear about), but one that if it's the worst of my worries I should be glad. Now, about my retirement accounts . . .