Count Your Blessings

“There is just this for consolation: an hour here or there when our lives seem, against all odds and expectations, to burst open and give us everything we’ve ever imagined, though everyone but children (and perhaps even they) knows these hours will inevitably be followed by others, far darker and more difficult. Still, we cherish the city, the morning; we hope, more than anything, for more." 
(Clarissa 225)

At the end of the book, Clarissa has just faced the situation of watching Richard commit suicide by falling off from a building. When she finally takes a min to think about all the events that happen that day she comes out with the major theme of the whole book.

Analysis:
Cunningham finishes this book by giving the main reason why the book is called the hours with an uplifting tone. All the three women tended to spend their time thinking about how their life would have been if they didn't have made the decision that they made. For example, Laura getting married with Dan. Or Virginia Moving to the suburbs of London. Clarissa, out of the three women realizes that the hours that you spend everyday should always be taken in count for and how every individual should always be optimistic about every situation. If Richard had not killed himself, she would not have realized how life is a blessing for everyone.