What's on YOUR plate?

I remember playing this game during a couple of staff trainings. Each person got a paper plate, folded it in half, then folded it in half again (making 4 different sections). Then everyone took the time to write something in each section that was going on in their life- things that were on your mind. The purpose was to show each other that if someone is having a bad day, there may be more to the story than you know.

Everyone has their skeletons. Everyone has something that seems to consistently bother/ worry/ stress them out. For some it may be money, love, career path, etc. Obviously, at this point most people know that what is typically on my "plate" is the thought of having a baby. I have complained quite a bit to Kevin since starting my new job about how it is so tough being around one of my co-workers since she is hugely pregnant. Of coarse in my mind it seems to always be "woe is me" when it comes to pregnancy and babies.

Today, my heart was shattered. It was a prime example of how we never know what is exactly going on with someone. There is another co-worker of mine who has been out all week. Since I am still pretty new, I am still trying to figure out who everyone is and match a face to a name. Regardless, there is one girl that lives on the same street as me, so I see her walking to and from work all the time, therefore I know who she is. Last week was her anniversary (not sure how long she has been married) but her husband sent a huge bunch of balloons to work and I could overhear her talking about their dinner plans for the night. Well, today I was talking with the one co-worker I have been working directly with everyday for the past week and a half (we are pretty much like BFF's now) and she told me the reason our co-worker has been out all week is because she is going through a miscarriage. After hearing this my heart sank- knowing the pain that she was going through. I say knowing in italics because I thought I knew what kind of pain she was going through. After talking a little more, I found out this was her third miscarriage... so obviously there is no way I would know what that kind of pain would feel like.

It made me weak to my knees- she always seemed to happy and bubbly. And then I remembered how I felt towards the pregnant co-worker, and couldn't fathom how this other girl must be feeling towards her.

It was a huge wake up call and reminder that there are always going to be people out there who have it better or worse than us. I know that if this month goes by with yet another negative pregnancy test I will be upset, but right now my heart goes out to those who have had to endure much worse experiences than myself.