NO.

I swim at an exercise club where I run into a lot of fellow Fellowship fellows.  I love bumping into other members out in the real world - it's always kind of a thrill and a quick boost of recovery Vitamin B12.  I wasn't even sure that this dude knew my name - I hadn't ever talked to him one on one even though I see him often.

In response to my query he said that he's in a good spot - temporarily, at least - grateful for all of the little blessings that we should be naturally grateful for but that seem to escape our attention most of the time.  I always talk about the fact that simple gratitude is such an alien concept to me that I have had to make a written gratitude list that I review each morning in my Quiet Time.  If I don't I don't do this my mind has a tendency to drift right to What's Wrong.  

And because I can't resist turning into Preacher Seaweed I mentioned that the real party trick is seeing something good when something bad happens.  Any idiot can be happy when said idiot is getting what I . . . er. . . he wants - it's moving through life's pain and unpleasantness to the good spot that eventually follows.  I actually apologized for bringing this up because it sounded kind of preachy - as in: "Oh, I'm glad you're grateful today but have you reached the PhD level of grateful that I've obviously attained?"

I have been to the doctor about a balky leg - nothing urgent, nothing mandatory but something that could be improved with a medical procedure.  There, waiting for me ominously, were two thick envelopes from my insurance company, telling me essentially: "No.  We're not paying for that" with very little in the way of an explanation as to how they reached this decision.

I was furious.  I was pissed.  I kept my mouth closed, not wanting to make things worse.  I made one call, keeping the volume down and the tone neutral, and moved on.  I know it's getting bad when SuperK slips into her office, closes the door, and clicks the lock.  This is a sure sign that I'm on the verge of something crappy.  It really is amazing how often I learn a lesson right after I proclaim how great I am learning lessons.  It's as if god is saying: "Oh, yeah?  Suck on this."

I sucked away.