Saturday Upside

Yesterday was a hellish day. One of those days that just makes you want to crawl into bed, throw the covers over your head, and leave Netflix on in the background while you sleep away the misery. Ok, a bit dramatic, I know, but it was definitely one of those days.

My dad is a diabetic. He’s relatively healthy and the diabetes is under control so everything is okay most of the time. My parents are traveling out of the country for several weeks and he needed to have a refill of his diabetes medication on hand because he was going to miss his scheduled refill date while he’s away. Enter the insurance company. I work in healthcare. I understand that there are processes in place for a reason and that sometimes things do work. But where they fail miserably are in situations like mine where I was battling for several days to get authorization just so my dad can pick up his medicine. Really, is that so complicated? The good news is that after all the back and forth, I was able to finally secure him the requisite paperwork to ensure that he could get his medication before he left. But it left me frustrated. Luckily my parents could turn to me to help them sort this out. I can’t help but wonder what happens to the seniors out there who don’t have someone they can trust to assist them with the ins and outs of complex insurance procedure?

I stay away from politics. I don’t particularly enjoy or engage in political debate. That said, I will take a moment to point this out. There is constant debate over the validity and constitutionality of “Obamacare” and although I don’t understand every facet of the proposed legislation, I do acknowledge that our current system is disastrous. Monumentally flawed. Totally…messed up, man! I left work feeling exhausted, dejected, and irritable. And I had a date with the hospital. Enter, the upside.

One of my cousins had her first baby yesterday.  I was nervous for her and spent most of the morning (when I wasn’t raging against the machine aka fighting with the insurance company from hell) checking my texts and sharing the news about the birth. The exertions of the day wore me out and on one level, the last place I wanted to be was a hospital. That all went away the moment I stepped into the room and saw the little guy in his cart. Just look at him.

It’s impossible for anyone to stay upset when you’re holding a tiny baby. And with all the heavy thoughts in my head about our ailing healthcare system, I couldn’t help but notice the good care that the new mother and baby received during our visit at the hospital. I suppose I can make some profound comment here about the circle of life and that for every bad experience there’s a good one on the horizon. And that’s all true. Sometimes things do work out the way they’re supposed to, even in our healthcare and hospital system.

But there’s really no need to be profound here. I don’t think I even have to tell you what my upside or silver lining was either. This little guy pictured here was a reminder that there are beautiful things in this world that go above and beyond the silly things that get us upset each day. We have so much to be grateful for. And so, thank you little baby for bringing my family and I joy just by being born.

What’s your Saturday Upside folks?? Post your own with the button above, comment on http://www.recipeshappen.com with your link and pay it forward! 🙂