Hi everyone, welcome to thanks for being here, a short weekly pad 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. This week's Thanks for Being Here is a letter that I wrote to my mother in 1991 that I just discovered in a box in a

closet in Bozeman and the reason I'm sharing it now is because I often hear

myself say that our generation of parents, me and my friends

are so entwined in our kids' lives and then someone will say my mother had no idea what I was

doing when I was 21 or 22 and I will respond I would have never asked

her for help in my 20s. Well guess what I was wrong I leaned on her a lot I

really cared what she thought of me. This is what I discovered

when I came upon this old letter, that she had saved and I had stolen and hadn't seen in at

least 20 years.

Dear mom, I want to try to explain to you my plans for the next two years or so

in the hopes that you'll be able to understand or at least be comfortable with my decision to quit my job and

go to Australia this November.

Writing it out like this will also help me to get it straight in my own mind. If I were a man I would seriously consider building a lifelong

career with United Way. I truly enjoy my job. I respect our mission as an

organization. I am quite good at raising money. There is a

...