I love this holiday. Such permission to enjoy food thoroughly and make it extra special, and to think about the deeper questions of our lives in a positive light.

I’ve been struck the last few days by the core gratitude I have. Gratitude that actually led me to create The Cook Awakening.

My oldest boy, who will be 11 years old on Christmas day, is in a band called Wallpaper – five 5th graders with tons of talent, sweet crazy kid energy and not enough sense and experience to be at all daunted at the prospect of being on stage. They sound pretty damned good for 10 – 11 year olds. They even sound okay for adults!

Last weekend at a benefit where the band was performing, a memory surfaced. I was five years back in time, sitting in Jesse’s Kindergarten classroom with his teacher.

“I have no doubt that Jesse will do great things in life,” she was telling us. “He’s very bright, even brilliant.”

“I don’t know how he’s going to do in first grade, though. He’ll be expected to sit at a desk. And at the moment, he’s not able to settle for longer than 10 seconds..”

I was scared. I had noticed that Jesse was more active than a lot of his peers. But I was tired. At 45 years old, having one in diapers and another who couldn’t sit still was pretty taxing. Plus I had some as yet undiagnosed health challenges of my own. Fatigue was a part of that picture. So, really facing the fact that my oldest boy was not in the range of “normal” was more than I had the capacity to face prior to this conversation.

Denial is a very useful coping mechanism when it’s appropriate. When it’s not, though, it will come crashing down in a lovely heap. If you’re lucky.

The journey that conversation began has been long, convoluted, complex, rewarding and heartrending. I’ve written about our journey with Jesse here, and my own here.

I have not yet written in depth about the journey with my youngest. Suffice it to say, Cirrus’ chronic mild digestive symptoms finally made it to the top of the list of family health puzzles. He has something called Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth, or SIBO. When we finally got his diagnosis I had a number of clients with this complaint, and had studied nutritional approaches for treatment. Little did I know I’d actually be bringing the diet home.

I will chronicle Cirrus’ struggle and how we implemented the diet in a future post, but for now, all I need to say is that he’s a different child. It wasn’t quite as quick a change as Jesse went through five years ago, but it was just as dramatic. He has more energy. He is amazed at the changes in his digestion. Did I say he has more energy?

Back to the benefit concert. Here is Wallpaper playing Sweet Home Alabama – Jesse is the curly blond mop headed guitar player in the flame shirt.

I’m sharing this particular number because Jesse really worked hard on it. The guitar part he chose is not simple, and he could not learn it in one sitting, the way he often has with other songs. And for that, I am particularly proud of him. Because five years ago, he couldn’t sit still for more than 10 seconds at a time.

Can we attribute all our healing to diet? I don’t think so. We develop on physical, emotional, cultural, social and spiritual levels. Jesse’s, my own, and Cirrus’ healing are supported pragmatically and esoterically, with love, honesty, and radical responsibility for ourselves.

If getting healthy were just about learning some new recipes and finding the right prescription, we’d all have done it by now. Getting healthy is really about living life on life’s terms. Eyes open, keeping a sense of humor, and being fully engaged.

As I’m preparing a very different Thanksgiving dinner than those I grew up with, I am grateful to witness all of us in this process. Myself, my family, my community, my clients.

May your Thanksgiving be filled with gratitude for your gifts, your health, and your life, exactly as it is.

(If you want to see all six songs the boys performed, just email me and I’ll send you the links. I’m shamelessly proud of them all! As you could tell by my crowing and singing in the background, I’m sure.)

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 24th, 2011 at 2:07 am and is filed under Food Sensitivities, Health and Nutrition, Integrating Lifestyle Changes, Living with Health Challenges. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.