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Many moons ago, my technically insane butt affectionate mother would repeatedly say these things to me. ‘Count your blessings dear’, ‘waste not, want not’ and of course, ‘be grateful for what you’ve got’. Fair enough, but she also used to walk around saying ‘It’s as cold as frog’s bottom’. Now as a young blokes logic went, I figured  anyone who went around touching up frogs arses to check the temperature. Must then be completely mad. So to pay any attention to anything she was saying would be an unnecessary and risky thing to do to. But you know what? Apart from her weird obsession with amphibian’s buttocks she was pretty much on the money with the other stuff. You see I’ve seen some folks have things they take for granted removed from them this week. Lifes like that,  It just happens. There have been some serious injuries in the surf. One woman is still in hospital awaiting surgery, thanks to a Gymp on a hired SUP.  A mate had a project fail, and he lost everthing, and I’ve had a few wake up calls myself. One was trivial yet bloody expensive annoyance, and the other, physically painful and not about to go away as one of my body parts has decided to wear out. It’s at times like this that I stop and reflect. The old girl with the frog fetish may have been right. I suspect I know what she was getting at. It was, be grateful for what you have placed before you today. Look for the good, but accept and forgive the bad. Don’t waste time wanting what you haven’t got. For the time will come when all you’ll wish for, is that you had that wasted time back. She was right, when problems arise, there is as she used to also say, ‘No point crying over spilt milk’. Or as I’ve come to see it,  accept the new reality and adopt an appropriate strategy. So I sit here tapping this out and I remind myself. I’m so bloody grateful for what I have and do in my life today. I’m grateful for how and where I live, in this place that is perfectly imperfect, and I couldn’t give rats arse whether anyone else likes it or not, In Byron Bay Today.