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 very different. It's from a listener who prefers to remain anonymous for reasons that you will hear and it's

about a more complicated relationship with a parent who is not gone but is inaccessible in a variety of important ways.

And I wanted to encourage anyone to share this kind of story with us going forward.

I know that many of the eulogies and toasts and Batnizva speeches that we share through thanks for being here

tend toward the positive they're full of admiration and devotion and I know that that's not always the life we've led and I think it's really okay to talk about that.

So I'm grateful for this listener, for even suggesting that we share this.

Here's her letter to me.

How grateful am I to have you, dear Kelly, to have your space to share.

I find myself perplexed and conflicted at the time of this writing.

Following this series about your mother,

as I listened I felt less alone.

I felt seen and I felt like you knew I had written this.

Thus I felt compelled to send it.

I wrote this on a business flight in December of

...