Greetings all,
Today, in the United States, many of us celebrate Thanksgiving. For our family, it is not about celebrating the traditional story told of coming to America, conquering the land and its people, then sitting down for a shared meal.
For us, it is a day to come together with family and friends, express gratitude, eat not only turkey and the favorite childhood dishes but also lentil balls, vegan gravy and mashed potatoes, and of course pie. Always, pie.
Some years it might be more challenging to open our hearts to gratitude as we experience our losses and challenges in life, but there are invariably people and things that we find we can lift up. Today, I acknowledge and thank you, the reader. Thank you for taking the time to read, comment, and like, however it is you interact with me, throughout the year and years that I have been offering my thoughts and reflections. It truly becomes a shared journey between us.
Good wishes to you in this day, wherever you are, whatever you find in your gratitude list, whomever you find in your day who offers you kindness and compassion.
I offer you a poem, a bit of my expressed gratitude. As I have been absorbed in the writing of my El Camino journey with my sister, a little poem floated in one day while I was waiting for my client to appear on Zoom. I hurriedly wrote it out and laughed out loud when I came to the last line.
One Marvelous Big Toe Little self learns to walk following her sister’s lead. Up on two legs, one foot, one foot, plop. It looks so easy, now up, fall, up, fall. Then, one day, she pulls herself up with strength and determination. She does it! with pride, a smile, looking around for approval, seeing clapping hands, laughter, and happy delight. What a fun trick. She can do this and make others happy—until, one day she will recognize making herself happy with: run, skip, walk, bike, and kick. Sometimes a kick in anger. Sometimes a dance with joy. Sometimes a run with fear. And sometimes, a bike ride with abandon. There is so much to express with legs and feet making her own vehicle of transportation. For now, little self plops down on the floor rocking onto her back, feet flying in the air, with her foot coming to her mouth. She finds comfort and peace in a sloppy, happy kiss to her one marvelous big toe. @Janis Dehler
