Sometimes it’s hard to make light of the day-to-day difficulties of a mom’s life, with terrorist attacks and economic woes making headlines on the day before Thanksgiving. But tonight I dug out this column I wrote a while ago, figuring it might add a bit of much-needed levity to worrisome times:

When you look at the reality of a mom’s busy life, it isn’t always easy to stay upbeat. Circumstances and events both big and little—like that stressful parent-teacher conference or the diaper that exploded while waiting to check out with a full cart at the grocery store—can add up and start to bring you down. It may sound trite, but I’ve found that a little dose of gratitude—focusing on what’s going right in your life and what blessings you enjoy—can provide some perspective and help lighten moods so black even a glass of Shiraz can’t lighten it.

Of course, when you’re swimming in the depths of diapers and homework, it can be hard to even come up with a list of things to be grateful for. I’m having one of those weeks myself, and in these circumstances, I find that taking an “well, at least X didn’t happen” approach is helpful. In the spirit of the Thanksgiving season, I’d like to share my list of recent Things That Could Have Been Worse:

It Was Pretty Bad When: During a trip to Target, my kid decided his cart seat belt was actually a torture device and spent the entire trip pulling on it and screaming at the top of his lungs.

But At Least: I could legitimately pretend not to hear her when the cashier asked—twice—if I was SURE I wouldn’t like to open a credit account and save 10% off my purchase.

It Was Pretty Bad When: My kids (and my sister’s kids…and my brother’s kids) got a 24-hour stomach virus during our last family get-together

But At Least: I got sick too, so I got to stay in bed while Jon cleaned up all the barf and washed the sheets and towels.

It Was Pretty Bad When: Owen wrote all over my off-white sofas with a pink marker.

But At Least: I got to test out the trick of using shaving cream to get stains out of furniture, and found out that it works. (Blot, apply the cream for 30 minutes, scrape off and blot again!)

It Was Pretty Bad When: My fifth-grade son brought home a math worksheet so confusing that he couldn’t figure out how to do it, and worse yet, I was incapable of helping him with it.

But At Least: I—er, I mean HE—totally aced the vocabulary and spelling words.

It Was Pretty Bad When: My third-grader ate all his remaining Halloween candy and then bounced around the room non-stop for an hour.

But At Least: He removed the chocolate temptation from the house—otherwise I may have done the same thing.

It Was Pretty Bad When: I got a call informing me that one of my kids had been—how shall I put this—showing his “junk” to other kids on the playground.

But At Least: He was wearing new underwear at the time.

I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling better already! From now on, I’m going to try to use this tactic while I’m actually in the thick of a parental crisis. For example, if my five-year-old throws a public tantrum because I won’t buy him a new toy, I’ll think “Well, at least his head isn’t spinning around!” Or if I get all the way through the store with all four kids and am standing in line at the checkout counter with $100 worth of groceries before I realize I forgot my wallet, I’ll think “But at least I have enough cash for some nerve-soothing chocolate!”

And really, no matter what happens? At the very, very least, I can write about it to hopefully read and laugh at one day. And somehow that makes even the biggest snafus that much more bearable.

What “could be worse” for you?