Giving Thanks

I am thankful for you. For all the ways you surprise me. For all that you’ve taught me—that selfish is boring and work is not identity and giving is not a sacrifice. I am grateful for your health and my health, for long runs and low cholesterol, for salmon and oatmeal, for health care and wellness. I am grateful for your mom. For our home. I am grateful for the mistakes I’ve made that will help me guide you better, for the losses that remind me of all that is fragile, for the regrets that correct my course, for the unkind people who show me who not to be. I am thankful for movie talk and book talk and music talk with friends, for texts and phone calls and visits with family. I am thankful for the years I had with my father. For the years I had with my grandparents. For the wisdom of my teachers. For Apricot and all the ways we’ve rescued each other. I am thankful for words on the page and a mind on fire. For the joy of learning. For the chance to feel goodwill and seek to be big-hearted. I am thankful for your smile and your laugh. For the way you wonder. The way you connect to people. The way your whole soul is out there in the wide brilliant world. I’m thankful for the park and your little squad and our new neighbors on this lovely street. I am thankful that in this lifetime I can know what it’s like for you to fall asleep curled up at my side on the couch. Endless gratitude, every day, your every breath, this fine life, mono no aware, warm like the sun.