Thank you cooking that great big pot of soup for the family before you left. Everything you touch in the kitchen is imbued with your care and craft. The kids didn’t even like it too much, but I made them eat it anyway, because it is so good for them in so many ways, and they will be grateful one day, and I told them that too! I am grateful this day. Thank you.

Thank you for caring for my Mum as if she were your own when she was visiting. Thanks for thinking about her needs when you had your own, and the kids’, to consider. Our home feels like a place of welcome, and most of that comes from you. Thank you.

Thank you for going the extra distance for Zoe’s birthday, when we were so rushed getting back from our trip. I know I told you that Zoe – simple, straightforward Zoe –  would have been happy with a box of balloons and a cake and a few friends, but you thought about making it more special and you did it uncomplainingly and with such grace. Such grace. Thank you.

Thank you for doing almost all the work regarding schooling, even though the differential is based on the simple truth that I don’t understand what’s going on half the time due to my foreign language illiteracy. Yet you never make it an issue. Ever. Thank you.

Thank you for just givin’ ‘er with your exercise regime. You show me what a commitment to getting better looks like. You do it with everything you have, yet you never whine or showboat, you do it to get better, you embrace the (ongoing) journey. I am trying to follow your direction in my own way, and the best teachers are those who teach by doing. Thank you.

The last few days I have been thinking about what it means to say to someone

you are loved. you are good. you are brave.

I think that is all that is required, eh? Thank you.

←This Much We Know.→