" AAhhh....that's just 1st world problems."

I have a dear, dear friend of mine who is also a "little asian girl". Every once in a while you meet someone that you just "get" you know what I mean? My friend and I have a deep and dear understanding of who the other person is and I feel like other than my mother & asian husband, this friend is the only other person who really "gets" me.

And recently she helped me gain A LOT of perspective on my life and how really truly fortunate I am. It helped me get through a grumpy patch in the road and it's times like that when I truly value and appreciate her friendship.

Maybe because I live in Southern California or maybe because I live in a city with running water and waste management, but sometimes I start to feel like I'm not "keeping up with the Jones" as well as I should. I look around at my friends in their upstairs/downstairs houses and watch them buy gazillion dollar purses and think..."WHY ISN'T MY LIFE LIKE THAT???!!!"

Now. I want to be ABSOLUTELY CLEAR here. I am NOT saying that asian husband isn't a good provider by any means at all. He definitely isn't sitting on the couch, drinking a 40 while waiting for his unemployment check to come... and it's not like I'm standing on the street corner while people drive by wondering what a little asian girl is doing there.....(anymore...)

PLUS we DO own our little abode and I am fortunate enough not to have to actually go to a job everyday, because asian husband goes for us............

but I wanted to complain anyway.

So I called my friend up and started complaining.

This is basically what I said:
"OH MY LIFE IS SOO SAD! MY BANK ACCOUNT IS SAD! MY PURSE IS SAD! MY HOUSE IS SAD...LOOKING..."

This is what my friend said:
"Your life is not sad! You just have 1st world problems!"

This is what I said next:
"HUH?!"

Then she proceeded to explain. My friend is actually Cambodian. She grew up with two very hard working parents and still visits Cambodia, Thailand and other countries like that. She told me that when you visit countries like those, where plumbing is a luxury and markets are on dirt roads, fancy clothes, nice cars and houses with insulation are things that people over there can't even imagine let alone have as an everyday necessity. So she told me that complaining about "things" that I didn't have and not appreciating all that I do have is like complaining about "1st world" problems compared to how people live in 3rd world countries.

SOOOOO....I realized that I was being a spoiled, ungrateful little asian girl by complaining about everything that I didn't even need and she totally helped be turn my frown upside down! (as you can see I am also very proficient in rhyme)

Thanks friend!! Love you!

-little asian girl