Today was awful; just plain shitty.

Frankly, it was one of the worst days I've had (emotionally) in easily over two years. Work blahblahblah, bills blahblahblah, people are idiots...you get the point. It's all there all the time, but today it all came together at once...the Perfect Shitstorm, if you will. I won't go into the details (I know - what kind of writer leaves out the details?) but suffice it to say, today sucked.

I came off the bus (a crowded bus smelling faintly of gasoline fumes, and not so faintly of stale fast food, and the farts of the guy sitting in front of me) to Penny and Jack, bundled together on a crisp November night, and Finley running in the park. He charged the fence at the sound of my voice and reared up excitedly, teetering on his back legs and waving his front paws at me in unison.

Instantly, I felt...better. Though it made none of my day's issues disappear, I was granted sudden perspective. A view that was soon to be amplified.

We watched Blood Diamond tonight. Not a great movie, but well done and worth seeing. Sure, it's preachy, and a little too predictable. But the message it preaches is real and the ending is satisfying (to whatever degree stories of death and war can be considered "satisfying.")

But for me, at least for today, the question of perspective was brought in to full blossom - fellow citizens are not cutting off the hands of my friends and family. No one I know is being imprisoned in forced labor camps. My son is fed, warm, safe to a degree that some parents around the world can not even conceive of.

When I wake up will things be perfect? I'm guessing no. (99 years and the Cubs still haven't won a World Series...what the hell am I complaining about?) But I will wake in a warm bed, throw on my robe, shuffle to the kitchen and marvel at the array of breakfast options available to me. I will see Penny and Jack, my wife and my son, and Finley sniffing around underfoot, and they will smile at me. Penny will tell Jack that daddy is up, and Fin will shuffle to me so I can rub his ears.

And I will ask myself again, what the hell do I have to complain about?