In the middle of a very chaotic day, with my house literally in shambles, a stranger knocked at my door. He plowed snow for other homeowners in our village and wanted to know if we needed help plowing our snow. He noted that he used to plow for the previous owner and he would love to continue offering his services to us. As if on cue, he also proceeded to tell me how lucky I was to own our home. His words, “you will never find this much space, with this much acreage anywhere in this area, you are truly lucky to own this home.” I looked at him dumbfounded. Here I was, in a frantic mess, water literally running down my ceiling, practically destroying all we worked hard to build, and a stranger, at the same moment, was reminding me of my blessings, of my luck. I said thank you, took his card and went back into our home. Everywhere was still a mess. Water was still sprinkling down. But the stranger’s words stuck in my heart, in my soul. We are the lucky ones.

Even in the midst of the chaos we were currently experiencing, we are the lucky ones. Even with all the water gushing out from the top of our ceiling, water on my cabinets, we are still the lucky ones. The prior owner, wished us luck when we bought the house. He told us that this home had given him all the blessings he had in life and he wished the same for us. That was barely a month ago. Yet, I stood in a mess. A huge catastrophic mess. That we were lucky made no sense. Our home was literally soaking wet. Yet, even with all the mess, even with all the water everywhere, luck, was somehow on our side, with strangers reminding me of its significance, at this dire moment. We did what we could to clean up the mess. I kept luck in mind and told the universe take control.

It did. About an hour after the exchange, a restoration crew descended at my door steps. There were 3 trucks and 2 cars, and about a dozen staff, all attending to our home. They opened up every space they could get into to listen to our home, to the water spill. They assessed every damage, assessed what caused the damages, identified the busted pipes, and started to restore, recover what they could. There were staff everywhere, lifting carpets, removing wet items, draining water, pulling cabinets apart. At some point, I felt sad. Here is a home we truly loved, a home I wrote about being blessed to own, just a few days before. Then I remembered, the power of the word, including the notion of why I should consider myself fortunate whenever I go through trials. We could not prevent the pipes from busting, a member of the restoration crew told me. It was inevitable given the frigid weather conditions. We are in good hands now, and they would do their best to restore our home to the condition it was previously, including with new set of cabinetry or floors and of course new pipes. We were the lucky ones. Though the day started as a chaotic mess, even now, I firmly believe that, luck was on our side. We are re-building, adapting, securing all that matters even with this mess and we intend to remember just how lucky we are. Keep knowing that even in the midst of your catastrophes, you are lucky.