Life is full of unexpected events. These events can be happy, sad, surprising or traumatic. In the past two weeks, it seems like I have experienced them all.

The unexpected and the expected kind of balance things out in life.

Having experienced a fatal accident and an illness in the family during the past 14 days tipped the scale to the traumatic and sad side, while having a family member excel in her first athletic competition and meeting a "new" family member (a boyfriend) at a family gathering balanced the scale of the unexpected.

Another type of unexpected is the "half-expected" kind. We've gone through a few of those at the workplace in recent weeks. In the newspaper business, you can always expect the unexpected -- half or not!

Dealing with the sad and traumatic events is the hard part in life. Finding a way to truly enjoy the happy and surprising events is a way of dealing with the former. We all must grieve and feel sorry for things that happen but we also must rejoice and enjoy the good things that occur in our lives.

Here's hoping that whatever sad and traumatic things happen in your life that you receive an equal amount of happiness and joy to remain balanced.

Happy Thanksgiving.