I am heartsick and hopeful as I pen these words. Colleagues and friends have shared tragic stories of emotional and physical pain. At the same moment I am absorbing their concerns, I am happily awaiting the arrival of my adult children for Christmas. My heart is bursting with gratitude for my family and breaking with empathy for some friends.

When I observe the shenanigans in Washington DC – on both sides of the aisle – I feel like I am living in an M.C. Escher print or a Salvador Dali painting. Nothing is as it seems. We have Nancy Pelosi berating Republicans for adding debt that our children and grandchildren will have to pay back to China. Of course, her leadership only added about $3 trillion to the price tag! We have “conservatives” making sure their earmarks are in place. It feels like Nero is fiddling while Rome burns.

We now have a President in favor of tax breaks for all…and the Republicans are again on their heels in the perception game. Add to this the earmarks that even Rand Paul is approving and you have the pathway to a Democratic victory in 2012.

As we enter the Advent Season and attempt some moments of normality (“normalcy” was a new term coined by then-Presidential candidate Warren G. Harding in 1920), I offer the following reflections on current events:

Somewhere in-between the cynicism of fatalists and the Pollyanna sentiments of too many greeting cards is the sentiment of gratefulness. Let’s strip away the cliches of “an attitude of gratitude” and the moronic, “it’s all good” and choose to be grateful for the abundance of blessings that most of us take for granted.