Thank you, dear Mary and Diane, for your loving encouragement. I am so touched and I trust your hopes are coming true. I am so happy that Kristi is offering a mini-retreat centered on her new book, which I find such a reflection of my own life. Her words are like a gardening kit giving me tools to attend to my life and in the same moment be in awe of what I see in the garden plot each day. And what I am learning is that what I see may be both/and…blossoms, fruit, weeds, and stones….yet in all there is a miraculous gift IF ONLY I am willing to acknowledge the lessons and gifts. One moment at a time. Slowly. Yes, I keep hearing within ….slow, Mary….slow. With lots of hugs…for myself and YOU ALL!

Before I chose to write my thanksgiving in this space, I wanted to quickly write Gratefulness.org. Yet perhaps this open space will become a portal for me to connect and to offer my thanks from my heart. I just listened to the video by Brother David named “Blessings.” The six blessings. I am ever grateful. I needed this very much this morning. I am into my second month recovering from a fainting episode which left me with a concussion.. A health challenge I have never had to face and live with in my almost seventy years. Yet I see there has been healing in small measure so I give thanks for this and do not write to dwell on this. Instead, I say huge thanks for this source of comfort and direction which I sorely needed this morning and will return to often.
I return today to myself and am grateful that I indeed am able to return to myself. Alive. Breathing.
I confess to having felt so very alone during this time as well as hungry for human touch. A warm, soft hug. A sense of peace when I lie down at night to sleep. Less pain.
Yet my current condition sharpens my awareness of my love for others and my gratitude for good health when it visits me. And that I am not alone when I am faced with such challenges.
I am grateful that I am able to walk. I am grateful that I have a table to sit at to eat foods I have prepared in my own little kitchen.
I am grateful I have money to buy food to prepare. I am grateful I have a faithful car to take me to food stores to buy such items.
I am grateful for the smiling faces who greet me and have wiped clean the grocery cart for me. I am grateful for the ladies at the counters when I check out.
I am grateful for the sky and her clouds and color beyond any human description. I am grateful for the geese which fly skimming the lake and voicing their celebration for life.
I am grateful that I may come to this keyboard and type out this message so that my heart knows I am listening to her and that I have not plummeted into a dark space unable to witness these gifts about which I write. I am grateful. I am. Bless us all with all our blessings freely given and shared. Hugs forever, Mary