What Luck!

I was looking at the most beautiful bicycle in the world to me. It was bright red with strong black handles & looked as if straight from heaven. I was ten years old & longed to have a bicycle like that. But I knew very well my parents could not afford it. Still hoping against all hopes, I asked my mother to buy me the bicycle.

She asked me, "Why do you want a bicycle now? You don't need it, do you?"

I immediately answered that all my friends have them & that I should have one too.

She gave me an ever ready reply, "You should not look up at people who have things which you don't. Rather you should always look down & see how many people don't have, even what you have."

I instantly felt guilty & angry at the same moment. Guilty, because, she was true, and angry, because, she always used to do this. As every child I too thought she used to do that intently so that she did not have to spend.

The bicycle dream was soon forgotten & so were many other dreams but what remained with me were my mother's words which always helped me through my numerous dreams. It had taught me to be patient, satisfied and feel lucky enough.

However more recently, after my mother passed away & a few difficulties in my marital life as well as my career, I began to feel unhappy. I used to miss my mother a lot & thought how unlucky I am to lose her. I was academically very good but I had to wait for extra three years to prove my caliber because I lost one year in between due to my mother's illness. This unhappiness kept resurfacing now & then and, there were more & more fights & arguments.

One day after one such argument, I told my husband how unlucky I am and that people have so much more than me. He listened to me patiently until I stopped.

I was very surprised when he hugged me at last & answered, "You really should not look at those who have more than you have, instead you should look at so many others who don't have what you do. You really are lucky. Its just that you have to believe it yourself to make it happen."

I hugged him again.The bicycle dream long forgotten came flooding back to me with these words and so came the magical words told by my mother. It was as if my mother suddenly made me remember that I was indeed lucky to have her.

Thank you mom, for the real red bicycle of heaven I am riding. What luck!