Thanksgiving, 2011

I am thankful for my son and for my daughter, for their health of course, and for their constant leaping into the moment at hand.  For every ounce of them, every day.  I am thankful for their father, who makes sure they know he loves them very much.
I am thankful for my health, and would like to remember to honor it.
I am thankful for a few days off, to return to serenity, so I am better equipped to meet my active days with calm.  I am thankful for my practice.
For my father, who is a great model of persistence and of right speech.
For my stepmother's laugh; its duality of surrender and boldness that I find strengthening.
For having responsible work that allows me to make a nice home for my family.
For my tribe of friends, for being able to offer help to some of them, and for the so many ways they help me.
For safety, for warmth, for appetite, for curiosity.
I am thankful for how much I have experienced.
I am thankful to be old enough to ask, and listen to the answer to, "What does my heart yearn for right now?" I am thankful to every once in awhile practice remembering to ask again before acting.
For puppies and old dogs and guinea pigs and tortoises, and even for the aquarium I am ready to part with.
For good food, which perhaps I may prepare more of this year than I did last year.
I am thankful for gentleness and for courage, and for when they show up together.