Grateful Ganesh
As part of our Pancha Ganapati celebrations, the human residents of Chez Boeckman-Walker have written "Grateful Ganesh" letters to express our gratitude for the many blessings the universe bestowed on us in 2008. My letter appears below.
The universe has seen fit to grant me a multitude of blessings again this year, and I recall them with a grateful heart.
I am grateful for each breath I take and for each beat of my heart. Living is itself a blessing that I should never take for granted.
I am grateful for my continued health and the lasting health of my family. I am overjoyed that my husband has recovered so well from his surgeries and that his breathing and sleeping have improved tremendously, leading to a much higher quality of life (and sleep!) for us both. The experience of getting to the surgeries and waiting through them was a test of my patience, and I continue to learn from it.
I am grateful that I have been able to run and experience the power and endurance of my body. I am grateful to all those people who have helped me improve my body, including everyone at the Center for Medical Weight Loss, who offered support and enthusiasm over the weeks and months; my dear friend Jackie, for inspiring and challenging me each Tuesday I join her for a little Spin; those folks at the gym who approached me to let me know how inspired they are by my own transformation--you inspire me to keep going as much as I might inspire you on your own journeys; my e-mail friends and family, who celebrated with me each milestone in my weight loss; and, most of all, my husband, for giving me the space and opportunity to make this journey and to continue on that path to better nutrition and health.
My husband is perhaps the greatest blessing the universe has found fit to offer me, and I'll be forever and profoundly grateful for his presence in my life, for his love and support, for his inspiration and for all the millions of things he gives me. His generous agreement this year to bear the burden of providing the bulk of the family's monetary support while I pursue a career as a freelance writer and editor/gym rat/hausfrau/faudie/mom is perhaps something I will never be able to repay in kind, but I will continue to try to provide some kind of contribution to the family in return and never take for granted this opportunity he has enabled me to have.
I am grateful for the joy--and the anguish--my son brings to my life. Watching him grow and learn and become his own person is a marvel, and I am in no small way privileged to witness this process and to even attempt to offer some guidance to him on his journey to adulthood. I know I am not as patient, loving and understanding as I could be when dealing with him, and I will continue to work to be the mother to my son that I want to be, for I do want him to know how blessed I feel for having him in my life.
I am grateful for all the opportunities I've had to learn new skills and to expand my own knowledge and understanding. I appreciate the patience and willingness of my teachers to answer my questions and share their experiences with me. I hope to give back some small bit of my own knowledge to the great collective whole.
Lastly, I am grateful for my extended family, who have all shown me and my family a tremendous amount of kindness and love this year. Deepest gratitude to my parents, for supporting me even though I am much too old to be a worry to them; to my sisters, for sharing with me a past full of wonderful and wonderfully dysfunctional moments and for helping me feel still connected to the kid I once was; to my husband's parents, for their unquestioning support even though my insecurities and asocial tendencies make me the worst of daughter-in-laws; to Melissa, for being incredibly willing to answer my zillions of crazy questions about all things culinary, for sharing her experiences and adventures, for inspiring me to share my own and for being willing to sacrifice her husband to my kiddo's crazed need for a lightsaber dueling partner; to Coweta and Sister JoAnn and Sister Mary Ann for being wonderful, loving surrogate great grandmas to my son; and to my feline kiddos, who offer me warmth (even when the last thing I want is a furry, heat-generating weight on my ankle, knee or hip in the middle of night), companionship, laughs, groans and largely unconditional love (provided I keep putting food in their bowls) without too much complaint.
For all these reasons and many, many more, I am eternally grateful. May the universe see fit to continue to bring breath into my body, ideas into my brain, love into my heart and inspiration into my soul!
My sincerest gratitude to you, Gentle Reader. May the universe continue to bring a multitude of blessings to you now and throughout your life.
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