Dear Body,

I know I sometimes complain about your certain pieces and parts, but I really am impressed with your abilities and with what you've become over the years.

Thank you for carrying and nourishing my two baby boys for 40 weeks, for thrusting them into the world, for bouncing back after their ten-pound-plus deliveries. Thank you for sending me a symptom so I could catch breast cancer at an early stage. Thank you for tolerating surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and then more drug therapy and for keeping cancer from recurring for the past almost four years. Thank you for responding to my healthy eating and exercise efforts, for dropping 15 pounds and giving me the strength to conquer all sorts of physical feats. Thank you for allowing me to sleep well at night, to manage stress effectively on most occasions, and for looking, well, pretty OK.

If I had to pick a favorite part, it would be my calves. I like the shape, the muscle, the tone, which I'm sure comes from running so many miles. Next, I'd pick my tummy. Now, I know I didn't come by this part naturally but I understand now there was little you could do on your own to minimize that left-over pregnancy skin. Sometimes we all need a little help, and my tummy tuck makes me like you so much more. Finally, I like my toes (John told me long before we were married that I have cute toes), and I'm really learning to like my arms as they tighten up, thanks to my recent strength training.

I admire you, body, and I am thankful for you -- despite my sometimes frustrations and sometimes suffering body image. Simply stated: You rock.

Cheers to you, my friend.

Jacki Donaldson

Thank you, Maggie, for the inspiration to write this.