Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. With that upcoming holiday, I faced the perplexing question: What should I give the person who has been my life partner for thirty-five years, the man who is everything to me? A tie? I don’t think so—a collar-less shirt would be more appropriate and appreciated, yet would not be something he’d really love to receive. Chocolate? A favorite, yet daily, treat for him. In our family, it is always a gift in good taste (especially bittersweet chocolate, and particularly See’s Candy which ships to North Carolina from California). Yet, it would be redundant after Christmas, and opposes my New Year’s resolutions. I could purchase something slinky to model for him (always high on his list), but my lingerie drawer is fuller than any lesson in abundance needs. When I put my mind to the task of what might express my love for him, I realized it was Gratitude.

Lytingale sent me an e-mail on December 3^rd from “Go Gratitude” which offered a free gift, via the Internet, to experience all we have been given in life through fresh eyes. For 42 days, we could receive messages to focus our minds on the beauty of our lives.

I signed up, as did my husband, Ed. I read them each day; he copied them, to save in a file, to anchor his awareness. He also clicked on the links, which presented greater insight into the wellspring that gratitude manifests. He began on December 7th, Pearl Harbor Day, also his father’s birthday. Ed’s father was nineteen-years-old on Pearl Harbor Day, 1941, and stationed in the Philippine Islands. A few months later he was captured by the Japanese and spent 3 ½ years as a Prisoner of War. On December 7^th 2005, Ed read the message about the symbol of gratitude, which is reflected in nature and offers us opportunity, abundance, and celebration. The symbol is a small “g” within a circle (akin to © only the g tail wraps around to become the circle).

Each day, his file grew. On day 5, Go Gratitude offered a dream meditation on abundance. Day 8 showed how the mirrored image of the encircled g could be flipped to become an e—the letters that are the beginning and end of GRATITUDE, or the Alpha and Omega, the symbols of creation.

Day 16 spoke to love, through listening…

By day 17 of Ed’s experience, (26 days from the official launch) 309,774 people had visited the site and 105,529 had officially joined to receive the positive messages of Go Gratitude. Could we reach the 100th monkey? The goal set by its creators is a million. If you join, can we raise our consciousness and push humanity over the edge; can we become better human beings? Can we create a better world?

On day 20 the message was:

I realized it was true—you can be adept at life and be very educated, but until you learn to give thanks for all that you have you do not really know love. Love grows ever stronger as you live together and give appreciation for all the blessing your mate brings to you.

For the past few years, Ed has brought me coffee in the morning as I get ready for work. It is a pure gift of love, acknowledging his love for me and his desire to make my morning joyous and easy. Every day, I thank him with true gratitude. When I cook his meals, it is done with a feeling of blessing and joy. He always has thanked me for the delicious meal, which has made that service my true pleasure. That give-and-take, surrounded with true appreciation, has been one of the foundations of our love.

A dear friend’s father fell ill the day I received the Go Gratitude message:

I sent the message to her and it brought her great peace. Go Gratitude also offers individuals exercises to relax our neck, our mind, and our beliefs. Sometimes, the messages were over my head, especially the connection that music=letters=tones=colors! Having taken tarot lessons back in the 1960s from a wonderful white witch, I understood the premise even if the lesson of day 31 was beyond my capacity of understanding. But I did relate to the underlying message: we, everything in life, is one. Everything we see, we experience, and we feel is interconnected.

“Blessed be to give and receive,
balancing Divine law of Reciprocity.
It’s all circular, my luv.”

On December 8^th we flew to Florida to surprise Ed’s folks for their 60th wedding anniversary. What a gift of gratitude! Three generations celebrating his father’s survival of WWII’s horrific internment, his marriage, his longevity, and his gift of life to his children—the gift that made my life complete. It was an experience of allowing the gift of Go Gratitude as it became manifest in our appreciation for all we have received. Had Robert E. Thompson not survived, I would not have met Ed, nor created our beautiful daughter, Lyric.

At times, Gratitude can grab you in a bear hug and fill your heart with a love so strong you can’t help but cry. But they are happy tears.

This Valentine’s Day, I vow to treat Ed with the special care and attention that makes him realize how much he means to me, how thankful I am for having him to love. Go Gratitude!