Hi everyone, welcome to thanks for being here, a short weekly pod to remind us of the many essential

and beautiful ways we affect one another. Every Sunday I'll read a submission from a listener of Kelly Corrigan Wonders, could be wedding vows or about

mitzvah toast, a eulogy or retirement speech.

We believe this is probably the loveliest way to tap into our better selves and remember our highest values.

We encourage you to share this podcast each week with one person you love, maybe someone

you miss and need to bring closer,

someone you want to feel your appreciation or admiration or both.

This is thanks for being here is beautiful and really thoroughly considered meditation on grief.

It was written by a woman named Kelly Servantes.

Since 2018, Kelly Servantes has candidly

chronicled her own grief, parenting

a medically complex daughter who passed away

from epilepsy just days before her fourth birthday.

She has a book now called Normal Broken, The Grief Companion for

when it's time to heal but you're not sure you want to.

And this is the story of her daughter Adelaide.

In so many ways I still feel beleaguered and broken by my losses but time's persistent

trudge forward has dragged me along too. Returning to my blogs allowed me to see

how far I've come, my once fresh wounds have scabbed over. My endurance and daily life has strengthened and I am no longer living from moment to moment.

Sure, sometimes I find myself picking at those scabs gushing grief all over again, or I push myself too far and

land back in a fetal position, captive physical and emotional energy, but I am healing. That was a significant discovery,

considering that early in my grief journey I wasn't sure that I wanted to heal.

...