Making a list . . .

When my younger son tested positive for COVID last week in his campus dorm room, I knew his brother would soon follow and began to settle into the fact of Thanksgiving without them. It hurt. When I asked them if they were worried about being lonely, quarantining alone and probably eating pizza for Thanksgiving, one replied, “I mean, I guess I’ll just, you know, be thankful.”

So . . . my man-children teach me again that the sense of comfort, of okay-ness, of joy lies in paying attention to what we do have, not what we don’t. On my plentiful list . . . I am thankful for blue sky and snow, for the breath I continuously draw without any effort. For an engaged community of readers, leaders, and meditators who support this work. For good, loyal friends and dogs (not necessarily in that order). For an unusually gifted team of professionals and advisers and partners. For the food I eat and the food I can share. For the knowledge that someday, maybe tomorrow, I will need something and someone in our community will give it. For living through these many months feeling, despite all the challenges, more true to myself and the reality that being human is hard but beautiful.

It is not the big things I want; I’d rather string a bunch of moments together, like beads on a necklace. I’d prefer to be awake to all that’s around me . . . a note from a colleague, open love from my family, a good meal, a pleasant walk, a full minute of laughter. These are all purchased easily with the currency of my attention. Wherever you are, whoever you’re with, alone or not, I wish you an ease that allows noticing the tiny, tender mercies . . . the glimpse of a bird in flight, something that tastes just right, the persistent whisper reminding you through this simple act of breathing that we are together, connected.

And it is enough.

With love and gratitude,

Sara and the Becoming Jackson Whole team