Best thing I ever found

I've found a lot of things over the course of my life. How to narrow this down to the "best thing ever" found?

When I went to Salt Lake City in 2007 for a USANA convention I didn't know what to expect. Well, the convention itself was pretty amazing. Great speakers, motivational talks, sales instruction; all the sort of things you would expect, plus a concert by REO Speedwagon. The concert was pretty good, but how did those guys get so old? I mean I haven't aged a day in twenty years. (thanks to premium supplements and a healthy lifestyle) OK. I've aged a bit, but those guys had some miles on them. But I digress.

After all the events were done my wife and I were walking back to our hotel and I spotted a rock in the gutter. It was a little rock. Not like Arkansas, but a little rock nonetheless. I picked it up and noticed that it was a green piece of quartz with a white stripe going through the middle of it. Now most people might ignore it, or pick it up and then put it down, but I stuck it in my pocket. I knew immediately that it was a gratitude rock.

A gratitude rock is the kind of a rock that you can put in your pocket and every time you stick your hand in there, it reminds you of everything you have going for you. If you're wearing tight trousers it may remind you that it is there even without your hand going in there. Either way you get a reminder.

The things that most people complain about aren't even worthwhile. I mean think about the last thing you were down about. Was it that your belly was aching because you haven't had a meal in two days? Was it that you had to sleep under a bridge to stay out of the rain or snow? Odds are it was because you couldn't find a parking space, or you got a ticket, or you had to work late. Or a meal at a restaurant was not up to some standard you hold dear.

Every time I start to feel down about something I try to remember that rock and think about the positive things that I have that many people around the world don't. Yes, I can access the internet at high bit rate and I have a roof over my head and eat regularly. But I also have to think that I have a wonderful wife, and loving extended family and friends who are there for me in all circumstances.

I have clothes on my back and heat in my home. Wow, I have a home to live in that has "extra" rooms and blankets and cable TV and running water. I have light to read by and books that are waiting for me. And a library system to supply me with free books, music and movies.

I have a government that mostly stays off my back. No gunfire around here or bombs exploding. I am grateful I am not in Egypt or Iraq at the moment, or in any of a hundred places at different levels of war. The food I eat would probably feed two or three people in a third world country and the food I throw away because it's gone bad before I get to it would probably feed another.

What is the best thing I've found? It's not really that rock, but it is the things that I sometimes take for granted that the rock reminds me of.