"One kind word can warm three winter months."
~~ Japanese Proverb
I have had time to read our holiday letters from friends while they came in this year, and now I am reading many of them again (there are still a few to come - I know who is late, and I am looking forward to your letter!). There are years and years of kind words and deeds contained in the memories of these friends, both long-distance and here in Ann Arbor, all of which convey a very warm feeling indeed, like being snuggled up in a quilt with each square being the memories of a friend, more than enough warmth to carry me through our winter months where this year it is actually cold and snowy and dark like winter should be in Michigan (yea!).
Almost all of these friends have in some way come into my life or stayed in my life because of my cancer diagnoses, with the help they gave me or due to the the path their support put me on. Every cell in my body feels the warm of that quilt I'm snuggled in, the gratitude I have for where I am today with the opportunities I have to pay these years of kind words and deeds forward.
I hope each of my readers has had this feeling from hearing a kind word and has also been able to share their own warmth with those in need. This hope seems like a thoughtful way to start and share another new year together.
Cultivate your life - you are what you grow - inch by inch, row by row,
Diana Dyer, MS, RD
PS - the new photo at the top of my blog shows Phoebe in her orange vest, which hopefully tells everyone that she is not a deer nor a coyote and also helps us keep track of her as we roam our farm in the snow. She is in her glory being outside. Her undercoat of fur has grown in thick and sticks out all over like a wild hairdo. She could stay outside all day and does not understand why we ever have to go inside to warm up my fingers and toes!
PPS - Here is the favorite poem by John O'Donohue I replaced with this Japanese proverb. I like it too, and don't want to lose it.
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