When my wife and I decided that seeing “Hamilton” on Broadway wasn’t crazy.
Is your Mom French?
Carlos Mencia - Three Cubes - 02:44
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OZHaAcyhl0
Warning: NSFW
I still feel this way every time I use a telephone. Such a mundane device today, but still would absolutely blow away the minds of people from centuries ago that two people separated by thousands of miles can chat in real time like it’s nothing.
When I was a child, it cost more than 25 cents a minute to talk on the telephone to someone in a town only a few miles away, and the further away they were, the more it cost. Today I talk to my sister, who lives 1500 miles away, every day for as long as I want, instantly send her pictures and short letters with no postage, for the same basic fairly low monthly fee I pay every month, no extra charge. We can even companionably sit and watch a movie or ball game together, talking only occasionally, for several hours. This still astonishes me every day.
When I am sick and miserable, I think of how much more miserable I would be if I lived in an era without
soft blankets, indoor plumbing ,climate controlled homes, OTC medicine, ice cubes and bottled soft drinks. And TV. I have a lot to be grateful for.
When I woke up and realized I had something I had to do that day: I had to go to work. I didn’t have to spend the day in the library, in the park, or in my apartment.
Be grateful if you have something to do today, even if you don’t want to do it.
Along the lines of the OP… Once upon a time I bought some new toothpaste that my dentist recommended to me. I forget what was so special but apparently, it was quite the darling of the dentistry world. It was kind of gritty and, for some reason, for about two hours after using it, everything you ate or drank tasted vaguely of metal. I hated it so much after two weeks, I swore I’d never buy it again. After four weeks, I realized that, toothpaste only costs about $3 and, although the tube was still usable, it wasn’t worth suffering for such a paltry sum to replace. My depression era mother would have killed me for throwing out a perfectly usable tube of toothpaste but that evening, I brushed like a king.
A little while ago, in another thread (“You’ve won a gazillion $$. What are the modest things you would do?”) I said I would go mad and buy a bottle of Sauternes for Xmas.
Sadly, I didn’t win a gazillion. But you know what? I bought the Sauternes anyway!
j
We needed breakfast cereal. I do the shopping. I got everything else, and wound up in the cereal aisle. I roughly total everything in my head as I grab items, to know how much I have spent. Then I realized - I could get any kind of cereal I wanted, and still be under budget for the week. I could get the name brand stuff instead of the cheap bagged kind.
It’s good to be the king.
Regards,
Shodan
PS - bran flakes. But it’s the principle of the thing!
Another example: We’ve had a huge storm where I live - Vancouver Island. No power for over 48 hours and counting. So I’ve moved my budgies and myself into the local Travel Lodge for the time-being. Here I sit all toasty warm, tv on, computer on, cell phone, kobo, fitbit all charged and working. Hot tub, pool, sauna and exercise room down the hall.
The budgies are singing and warm and happy in a toasty 80 degree room with me. I went back to the house to pick up some things and it’s 41 there.
I’m fortunate indeed.
2 things: #1- I spent way too much on my mattress, best decision ever.
#2- I spent way too much on my fridge, worst decision ever.
You can never tell.
I’ve lost six figures worth of stock since October and I haven’t felt the need to jump out of a window. The desire, sure… but not the need. Easy Street!
My “I have it made” realization: It’s below freezing outside this time of year, and I have a well. Behold, peons, I have FREE ICE. 
Whenever I’m out in the pouring rain, I think about how nice it is that my feet are warm and dry. The materials and technology nowadays are so much better than when I was a kid. They don’t wear out and leak as quickly as they used to and I sincerely appreciate that. I can still picture Pops back in the sixties cutting out pieces of cardboard to put in his shoes to cover the holes in his soles. Because he couldn’t afford to keep his kids fed and warm and buy a new pair, too.
This. M details are slightly different, but I think about this all the time.
Also this. I have blueberries in the fridge because I like blueberries. Yes, it’s winter, and they are expensive. But they looked good, and I can afford them. I am rich! Through most of history, no one, or possibly a very powerful king, could get delicious fruit out of season. But I can!
Although I still like show rubbers. (which is what I had in the 60s. I recently rediscovered them.)
Every day I’m thankful that I have fresh food, hot showers, and air conditioning (even in December I appreciate that we have A/C in July).
Shoe rubbers. Not “show”. lol
I was just observing yesterday, my family has no less than six different varieties of jam or jelly currently open in the fridge. Such an extravagance was never seen in my parent’s home growing up.