Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day.
I am grateful that I’m going to my friend Melanie’s house!
She is a wonderful cook, has a beautiful home, is the matriarch of a lovely family…sons, daughters-in-law, grandkids, and friends galore. I feel lucky to be invited even though we are eating in her garage! Actually, Melanie has a garage floor clean enough to eat off of, holiday or not. I don’t have to cook: just show up with some gluten-free corn bread stuffing.
I am grateful for Chef Susan, who made the gluten-free stuffing!
Susan is so gifted…as a chef and as a writer, intelligent with a sense of humor that can keep me laughing until the tears roll down my cheeks! She is the mother of wonderful twin girls, also
intelligent, with a sense of humor, and talented who just happen to be on the spectrum for Autism. Listening to Susan talk about this journey she and her husband and daughters are on has been extremely humbling. Some things are achingly funny. Some things just make me ache. I admire her patience and dedication to giving these girls the very best care and education, even if the stress often wrecks havoc on her physical and emotional body.
I am grateful my daughter is healthy.
Kelsey will be 40 years old on November 28th. I cannot say my mothering skills were finely honed. Many times, I can say I have felt like a failure as a mom. But being a mother has been an opportunity to know a love like no other. Though I am not sure that I would actually throw myself in front of a bus to save her, she is the only person on earth for whom I would even think about doing such a thing! Motherhood made me a less selfish person than I would have been otherwise. There is not much I ask of the Universe: keep my child healthy and safe from harm. Thank you.
I am also grateful that our mother-daughter relationship has flourished in the past four years, that we are growing into an unconditional love for each other, that we do not need to place demands on each other because we are secure in the love we share.
Would that every parent-child relationship could be so. It is so freeing for both parent and child. The letting-go on the part of the parent does not create distance. It actually draws the child closer. You want to be together. You don’t get together because you feel you have to. I have my kid to thank for this…she set the standard to create boundaries in our relationship which led to this freedom and acceptance.
I am grateful for my independence, that I am finally growing up!
Trust me, I have fought it tooth and nail. I have been a loner who needed to not be alone! Now that I have chosen to be alone, there is such a sense of peace in my life. It has also given me the opportunity to learn to take care of myself, make reasoned, thoughtful decisions. I have taken responsibility for myself. I’m not perfect at it, but I am grabbing the bull by the horns. Sometimes, the bull wins, but I’m fighting the good fight and I do like a tight fitting pant!
I am grateful to my former husband for creating a secure life for our family when I so needed someone to take care of me.
I am also grateful for the manner in which he allowed me to leave our marriage.
I am grateful for my sense of humor! Period.
I am grateful that I still recognize I have work to do on myself and have the energy and spirit to do it.
My path to health and self-acceptance has not been a straight one. It has taken twists and turns, many times screeching to a dead halt. However, I have never given up on myself nor the hope that I could find the key to unlock a door of my own making. The human spirit is a remarkable thing. I have often likened it to an intricately woven spider’s web…able to withstand buffeting winds yet fragile enough to be destroyed by the flick of a wrist. I don’t know why some spirits can be dashed and extinguished, but I am ever so thankful that I can persevere.
I am grateful that I have work to do – grace through purpose. My business partner is dedicated, talented, a skilled coach and trainer.
Thank you, Scott.
I am grateful for the beauty I see in the lives around me!
Lauren and Roland in a new house, with a new baby…Emma taking course work which will allow her to fulfill her dream…Suzanne and Scott beginning their life together after so many years together…Dan being healed enough to find the perfect new dog…Legacy clients reclaiming their health so that they can imagine life uncompromised by pain and injury.
Hope abounds. People persevere. Life is good.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
