It used to be that Thanksgiving was the one time of the year I would be aware of all that is good in my life. These last few years tho I recognize and acknowledge all that is good in my life on an almost daily basis - gratitude being synonymous with thanksgiving.
I am grateful for my understanding and wholly supportive family. All of them - my sister, 3 brothers, 8 nieces & nephews and 11 great nieces/nephews and all my surrogate children over the years. The essence of who and how I am.
I am grateful for the very many long friendships I have been blessed with - friendships that started in childhood and have stood the test of time thru teenage years, love, marriage, divorce, children and grandchildren, thru illness, sadness & losses, thru silliness, laughter, solidarity and the sheer joy of connection. My girlfriends and my manfriends - the foundation of my life.
I am grateful for all my 'new' friends and the paths that brought us together. I am grateful for all the friends that I have known over the last 6 years who shared their lives with me before passing away. There is a debt of gratitude to each them I cannot repay so I will pay it forward.
I am grateful for my communities without which I would not be able to bear so many things. To my Callanish community who continues to help me live in the now of my life and allows me to be as I am, which allows me to grow in ways I cannot articulate. To my Metastatic Cancer Support Group where we lay down everything, where we laugh and cry and commiserate and educate and compare notes on everything from treatments to side effects to doctors to shoes and travel.
I am grateful for the life I have created for myself over the years by virtue of these relationships - not knowing at the time that what I did, when I did it and the people I chose to keep in my world would lead me to this place of contentment. I am grateful that I was smart enough to banish the ugly, the wrong, the hurtful, the senseless and embrace the good, the moral and the honest.
There has been a question rumbling around in my mind this last while: Why have I been given all this time? I don't know the answer to that but I am grateful that I have been given all this time.
Happy Thanksgiving to my world.
Rest easy Martha.
So many to THANK for all the GIVING! What a beautiful gift of words to all the cherished people who have shared your world. The good , the moral and the honest has always been the essence of you. It just took some time for you to recognize and embrace it. Forgive yourself, love yourself and know that I love you just as you are and always have, my forever friend!!
ReplyDeleteKiss you , miss you, always Cass
My Cass - thank you for each & every memory we have created since the 60's... and now we are 60!! Good & moral & honest - the essence of you - I love you always. Mar
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving Marlene. That is a wonderful list of "thankful for's!" I loved reading through it and I am so grateful that you shared it with us. As for why you have been given all this time? It seems clear to me - you are given all of this time to help ease the journey of countless others, to help them through their challenges, to encourage them to express gratitude and to laugh, to support those you know and those you haven't yet met. That is why!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your words Audrey - I keep thinking that I need to do something exceptional in my life to leave the world a a better place - the idea that easing, helping, encouraging and supporting may be enough sits well...
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing
ReplyDeleteAll about breast cancer