With Thanksgiving approaching, and many people writing about all of the things they are grateful for — family, friends, a home, food, money, and so forth. I decided to write this (slightly different) poem this morning.
- All those times you thought you were a saint and
- All the times you could have been a bit kinder.
- All those times you were treated unfairly or misunderstood.
- All those times you were too hasty to spend a minute in their shoes.
- All those fights you won and those times you were beaten to a pulp.
- All those times you were wronged, overlooked, or scammed.
- All those evenings you unleashed your day’s frustrations on an unsuspecting soul.
- All of those worthless seminars you attended.
- All of those times you were brilliant in the shower.
- All those times you made racist jokes and
- All those times you stood up for the little guy.
- All those years your parents didn’t love you as they should’ve and
- All the occasions you forgot to tell them how much you love them.
- All that money you saved and
- All that money you lost.
- All of those shoes you just had to have!
- All those times you thought your problems were insurmountable and
- All those times you complained about problems that weren’t even real.
- All of that weight you lost.
- All those times a cocktail called your name much more loudly than the gym.
- All those times you gave to charity and all those questionable tax returns.
- All those times you forgot someone’s birthday and that one super-special birthday when your best friend gave you a thoughtless gift.
- All those business partners you swore would be friends for life and would never take advantage.
- All the times you tried so hard to do good only to have your efforts misconstrued as something they weren’t.
- All the times you climbed to the peak in record time and
- All the times you laid in bed unable to use the remote.
- All those people you inspired and those that thought you were a charlatan.
- All the big wins and all the devastating losses.
- All the amazing lovers, the boring dates, the comfortable-yet-unexciting partners, and the soul mates.
- All the the times serendipity astonished you and
- All the times you felt like Murphy’s Law was crafted just for you.
- All the moments of ecstasy and the seemingly endless periods of pure grief. Welcome and entertain them all!
There is nothing to change, to have more or less of. Only the gratitude for the privilege to be alive and experience the wild ride we call life.