Finding the silver lining in inconvenient circumstances

Have you ever noticed how after something bad happens to you, you find yourself all the more grateful for things that go well?  I am realizing that this attitude adjustment could be one of the most positive outcomes of bad/inconvenient circumstances.  I only wish I could maintain that attitude for longer.  It seems the farther I get away from a negative event, the less grateful I become and it's discouraging how quickly I revert back into my old attitude

Last Friday night as we drove home from work through some blustery winds and a layer of new snow, our trusty jeep caught some ice and careened into a snow-filled ditch. 

Two miles from our house.  On our basically deserted road.  At 11:30 pm. 

Even in the middle of this circumstance, there were a ton of things to be grateful for:
- we were together & unhurt
- we hadn't damaged the car at all & it was nicely out of the way for the snow plow in the morning
- we were within walking distance from our home
- we had proper attire (hiking boots & decent coats) and a headlamp
- it was 25 degrees outside -- not the negative 5 degrees it had been two nights earlier

Granted, the night did get worse ... when we finally did get home after our impromtu hike, we decided it would be nice to get the situation resolved that night instead of waiting for morning.  So a call to AAA ensued ... they refused to come pick Jason up since our house was not on the way to the car, so he headed back out for another 2 mile hike back to the car.  When the truck arrived to pull our car out of the ditch, the driver refused to even come up the road to where our car was, stating it was too icy and he didn't have chains.  Nice.  (What type of rescue-truck driver goes out in the winter without chains???)  He just turned around and left Jason there to hike another 2 miles back to our house.  Needless to say, we didn't get to bed until around 4 am, Jason didn't need to hike for a few days and AAA service did not meet our expectations. 

After all of this, I have to say it's been so lovely to get home easily every other night.  And, it's made me grateful for a whole host of other things.  Things I am hoping I will continue to be grateful for as time progresses.