Dearest Fletcher Community,
Living as I do in Arizona, I love the way November is always the month when the summer heat finally abates and the sun, at long last, quits its endless record setting. But November is significant for so much more than cooler weather. November is the only month that formally invites us all to focus on that most transformational of emotions – the one that gives perspective to our vast good fortunes.
That emotion, of course, is gratitude. And the older I get, the more I realize just how profoundly gratitude can change everything. And always for the better.
That’s a lesson I learned from my grandfather as a young girl growing up in Texas. Granddaddy owned a successful steel casting business in Houston, as well as a cattle and timber ranch in east Texas. But he always made time to spend with his children and grandkids. Occasionally, during summers mostly, he’d invite me to accompany him on business trips where the hotel staff would treat us both like royalty.
And he was most responsible for teaching me who I was in the world and what I could be and do in life – if I truly set my mind to it.
My favorite trips were to Kentucky and Louisiana, because they always included a day or two at the horse races – granddaddy LOVED to bet on the ponies! Though I was a young girl at the time, he allowed me to go down to the paddock on my own to check out the horses in each race. He’d then help me start my own “show parlay,” betting on the horses that had caught my eye. Once, after selecting winners in three consecutive races, I couldn’t stop thanking him for all the fun I was having. Granddaddy looked at me and smiled a long, satisfied smile, and I remember him saying, “Well, Kyria, you’re most welcome. And I must say, gratitude certainly becomes you.”
Gratitude becomes you.
Had I known what it meant at the time, I doubt I’d have remembered it. As it was, I couldn’t forget it. And all these years later, somewhere still – mixed in with all the gratitude and the becoming – lies a deeper more profound lesson for unfolding the heart. Yes, gratitude is very becoming. And the more we focus on becoming the gratitude within us… well, you get the idea.
In a time of conflict and strife especially, there is no more transformative medicine for the spirit than gratitude. Having endured the pain of my grandfather’s passing, then many years later, the loss of our dearest Ron Fletcher, it’s gratitude – for all they invested in me and contributed to this life I’m so privileged (and grateful!) to be leading – that keeps me going.
The ability to make a living helping people achieve their greatest physical potential is nothing short of grace itself. My heartfelt blessings to each of you – teachers, students, and the best clients I can imagine – who’ve stayed the course and blessed me with your constant faith and loyalty.
You are truly the wellspring of my deepest, most abiding gratitude.
With love,
Kyria
Director of Fletcher Pilates