Concord Woman’s ‘Perfectly Imperfect Life’: 30 Days Of Gratitude

CONCORD, NH — Kayla Melanson is grateful her husband is home.

Melanson has gotten used to his absences through four military deployments.

But “it never gets easier,” the Concord, New Hampshire, woman wrote after Patch asked on Facebook what readers are grateful for and the importance of gratitude in their lives.

The idea behind living with gratitude: It’s an affirmation of the good things in our lives, and the recognition that the source of that goodness is outside ourselves, with other people who give us “many gifts big and small, to help us achieve the goodness in our lives,” according to Robert Emmons, a University of California, Davis psychology professor who is known as the "father of gratitude."

Patch's "30 Days Of Gratitude" is a series of articles exploring the intentionality of gratitude and featuring bits of wisdom from Patch readers. Check Across America Patch every day through November for more stories like this. And be sure to sign up for Concord Patch to find out what’s happening outside your front door.

Living with gratitude doesn’t mean pretending there aren’t obstacles in life. Deployments and training drills take her husband away from the family, but those unavoidable absences from the day-to-day life of the family have yielded riches.

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“I’m grateful that because of him and all he does for our little family,” Melanson wrote, “we have a roof over our heads. We have food to eat, and we have built a family away from family thanks to the community we are a part of.

“Sure,” she continued, “some parts of it aren’t so glamorous, and at times can make you bitter, but at the end of the day, my gratitude is all toward the man I love most!”

Melanson and her husband are both from Concord, where they attended Merrimack Valley High School. They’ve been sweethearts since they were 14.

“So thank you,” she wrote on Facebook, directing her comments to her husband. “For this perfectly, imperfect life. I couldn’t ask for anyone better to do this with, and this holiday season, I’m grateful to have you in the states!"