Dear Members,
Welcome to November, the month in which the word GRATITUDE takes first place in my heart.
I ‘discovered’ this tradition when I moved to New York City in 1996. The last Thursday of November the city empties out, as all Americans head off to celebrate Thanksgiving Day with their families. Traditionally, this has been a time to give thanks to God, friends, and family. I have so many sweet memories created by ‘the rest of us’ – those without families to meet up with – as we enjoyed food and drink together, and just shared what we were grateful for.
In 2009, we moved to Thailand and I ‘discovered’ that on the full moon night of the twelfth lunar month (in the Thai lunar calendar), which usually falls in November in the western calendar, the tide in the rivers is at its highest and the moon at its brightest. The Thai people choose this day to hold the ‘Loy Krathong’ festival, or the ‘festival of light’.
‘Loy’ literally means ‘to float’, while ‘krathong’ refers to the lotus-shaped receptacle which floats on water. The Loy Krathong ritual is a simple one: one needs only to light candles and joss sticks, make wishes and let them float away on the current of a river or a canal.
November is also the month when we celebrate the anniversary of our daughter’s arrival. She is going to be 4 years old this year and as I look at her I feel that all those early colicky moments were in a different lifetime, yet at the same time I feel like I can touch them again like it is yesterday.
I feel grateful that Lilly was crying for hours because I could never picture myself being able to hold someone in my arms for 12 hours non-stop.
I feel grateful because that non-stop crying made me a runner. I had never run before that, but as soon as she stopped crying I hit the streets to release my frustration.
I thank her for letting me be her parent in this lifetime.
I appreciate all my ‘alone’ times and I will never feel lonely ever again.
Have a grateful month.
Be well,
Eleni Petraki