Last November I had the pleasure of attending Zoya Jiwa’s Simply You presentation at the Winds of Change Wellness Gathering with my tweenager.

It was an awesome afternoon where we explored our definitions of beauty, talked with strangers about our inner hopes and learnt how to appreciate the important people in our lives. The session ended with time for us to write a letter expressing gratitude to someone in our lives.

I shed a little tear and Zoya smiled a big huge smile when, at the end of the activity, I found my daughter and we exchanged letters.

I recently emailed Zoya to let her know the impact of her afternoon in Pemberton. I sent her a gratitude note because on that day in January I had received one myself, again from my daughter.

It began, “You know how we went to that thing in November and she said we should let people know when we are thankful for them? Well, Mum….” Yeah, okay, so I shed another tear or two (I’m a bit of a softie).

I was thinking of this today as I was contemplating the challenges of parenting a young woman who is transitioning to teenagehood, gaining independence and heading off to high school in September. Now I am thinking that I may be busy but could easily squeeze 10 minutes in to let someone know how grateful I am for their presence in my life or for something they did or do.

Who could you write to?