Thursday, November 22, 2007

What I'm Thankful For

Mostly people. I'm deeply grateful for these people in my life :
  • Ali M. – for his generosity of spirit, his time and his care.
  • Ali S. – for offering his knowledge and service free to help me get better.
  • Ari – for helping me quickly with all my computer ails, doing so cheerfully and efficiently, and liking Obama too.
  • Anita - for providing emotional support and information in my endeavor to have a child, and for memories.
  • Barbara - her sense of humor, encouraging my writing, her companionship with this endeavor to write, her understanding.
  • Cecilia - for making me laugh, her emotional support and trips to Cosco.
  • Chantal – for her constant and unconditional support, our long friendship (31 years!), and her resilience which is an inspiration.
  • Christina – for her knitting help, for her emotional support, laughter, intelligence.
  • Christine – for her checking in on me, her notes, care, and our long conversations and making me laugh.
  • Claudette - for always making me belly laugh, being artful, and her loving gift of art that hangs on my bedroom wall.
  • Connan and Blake - for checking in on me, sharing my love of theater, and for memories.
  • Corinne - for checking in on me, encouragement and love.
  • Elizabeth - for her steadfast example of dealing with loss and challenges with wit and intelligence and generosity.
  • Emily - for checking in on me, and for memories.
  • Erik – for adding to my hip factor, and always calling me with loving messages.
  • Francesca - for her encouragement, good sense, and humor
  • Gabriel - for his constant encouragement to keep me social, for the birthday party he gave me this year, and for bringing me groceries.
  • Jen - for encouraging my writing and providing excellent and enthusiastic feedback, and for memories.
  • John - for deeming me hip enough to have him as a friend, for checking in, and his sense of humor.
  • Juliana- for teaching me yoga and inspiring stability and bringing laughter to my life.
  • Libby - for her like-minded politics, encouragement and moral support, and visits with lunch, for groceries.
  • Maggie - her thoroughness and information about film, arts, books, her companionship on this journey of illness.
  • Mercedes - for checking in on me, letting me know when a good film is on TCM, and for her emotional support.
  • Monica – for reminding me in ways big and small of my mother, sending me articles, and many phone calls checking in on me, her companionship in and understanding of chronic illness which has been a comfort.
  • Nickie – for making me laugh, for working my muscles, for welcoming me so warmly and sharing her family and home.
  • Sara - for her information, encouragement and visits with lunch.
  • Sally - for informing me about Crossings which gave me the best gift, the gift of a dream about my mother.
  • Sheryl – for her professional encouragement, her self-reliance which inspires, and her companionship in dating a Brazilian.
  • Shirley - for her love, support, making me dinner and bringing her beautiful kids by for a visit.
  • For my writing group last summer and this spring - Bill, Matt, Sarah, Tom and Zach - for keeping my mind awake, encouragement, and being funny.
  • And most of all - my yoga students: Aaron, Ali, Carole B., Carole G. Cissy, Ellen, Jan, Karen, Kate, Laura, Maria, Reid, Sylvia, Tamra and Libby and Sara too - for their patience during this year of mourning.
  • My care givers - Abdul and Fatima, Kevin, Rebecca, Nickie, Juliana, Claire, Rosalba, Alan, Jennifer, Karen, Ali, Ali, Dorothy and David.
  • I am also grateful for the joy of children, especially my nieces and nephews Isabelle, Lucas, Austin, Curtis, Jack, Andrew, Margot, Sabrina and Ava.
  • I am very grateful for the financial support of my father.

  • Boy, that makes me feel pretty lucky. These months have been trying, and I am appreciative of these connections and relationships which have buoyed me in all sorts of ways.

1 comment:

Carolyn Gallaher said...

Hey Cass,
Glad you had a nice Holiday!
xo
carole