This...a view of Vienna's outskirts from our apartment.

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“Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you got ‘til it’s gone”… This line from a Joni Mitchell original keeps playing inside my head (better that way, I guess, than me singing it out loud, lest I irritate the neighbors!). 

The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced that there is a grain of truth to that line. 

Oftentimes, we fail to realize how much we have to be thankful for. When these are taken away from us, that’s the only time we see their real beauty and worth. 

Take for instance this lovely view outside our apartment. It’s been there all this time, but it’s only now that I have really learned to appreciate and marvel at its beauty.

Same goes for people. Day in, day out, the people we hold most dear- our families- are just… there. Sometimes we all get so physically close, that we push each other’s buttons and soon get on each other’s nerves. When one of us goes away for a vacation, that’s when we start missing him or her so bad, it hurts to the bone. 

We should all learn to appreciate what we have. We may be beset with countless problems, but if we learn to see tiny bits and chunks of beauty around us, we’ll realize that life isn’t all that bad, and that we are truly blessed.