50 Days of Gratitude: Days 46-49

It’s unlikely that any words I would arrive here with could fully describe the deep, deep gratitude I have for my family. These beloveds remind me of the stuffed animal in the Velveteen Rabbit; we are all deeply loved, but scarred in places, with our fur rubbed smooth and the pink on our noses a bit worn down. Real. These beloveds are Real with a capital R. They are uniquely their own, my three/five “kids” and the grandest granddaughter of all, and my dearest spouse. Sharing life with them is the most wondrous gift.

This season, these five + weeks, have been a unique new time in our family. Watching one’s children become parents is something I could not have imagined. Our son and his wife are the most amazing parents, raising the most amazing wee one. Her eyes reflect an inquisitiveness that stretches down to her long toes. Her frequent smiles are beginning to be more intentional, or as her daddy likes to think, are in response to his dad jokes. She is loved by many, including her Aunt and Uncles. I am savoring this season.

The humans I’ve raised are, (with as much objectivity as is possible here) creative, independent, funny, wise, smart, passionate, clever, loving, resilient people. Each of them are their own mixture of these traits and the life experiences that have shaped them. Because they are in the world, it is better. And the people they’ve chosen to share their lives with are equally wondrous in their own specific ways.

And my Beloved….after all of this time, I still marvel every day. His unending care of and for me and our kids, his freaking AMAZING talents, his endless patience, even the way he can spend thirty minutes running into the grocery store for apples….he is the one I get to begin and end each day with and I can’t imagine anything better. Bruce is my perfect companion, my travel partner extraordinaire, my let’s-read-on-the-porch-for-awhile, let’s explore every Church in every new city, let’s find a spot to watch the sunset beloved.

I don’t intend for this post to paint a picture that is without hardship. In our family, as in most, there have been challenges and changes and difficult times. And those are some of the very times, just like in the story of the Velveteen Rabbit, that make us all the more real. But I am grateful for it all. I am grateful for the love that grows because we don’t give up and because we grant grace and because we believe in each other. That, as the Book of Common Prayers notes, God has placed the solitary in families, and for my family, I give deep thanks.

When the Skin Horse was explaining to the Velveteen Rabbit what it is like to be Real, this is what he said:

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

Here is a link to the whole story: https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/williams/rabbit/rabbit.html