If sesshin could talk...

Sesshin is seven days of silence. If I could have spoken, this is what I would have said:

Thank you for...

Reminding me of the importance of sangha by timing your bow with mine, every time

Offering me a huge wad of Kleenex

Smiling as you ushered me in to your office because I was talking in the hallway during sesshin!offering me chocolate

bowing deeply to me in the hallway after I cried my eyes out during tea time

suggesting, during dokusan, that I could talk to my mom

adjusting my posture

hitting me so that I would gassho to the server

facing out when I did kinhin

doing kinhin during “optional” zazen

turning on the lights

letting me watch you during oryoki
drying the dishes
asking me to wash Buddha’s bowls
making those chocolate cookies, and then those chocolate chip ones the next day
advising me
kindly saying, “I’m not responsible for kitchen jobs but I hope you can find someone to help you figure it out” when I silently gasshoed to you during kitchen soji
giving me a huge first portion of pumpkin pudding, because you knew…
walking us around the block
giving our bodies yoga every day
saying “this is a good time of day to do kinhin at a normal walking pace” and then clapping your hands, in the zendo
loaning me your watch so that I could be present for dokusan
suggesting that I “fluff” the cushions (because you could tell that I wanted to “fluff” some people)
motioning to me so I knew when to exit the Buddha hall after service
making me laugh during practice period discussion/ dokusan
sitting next to me during oryoki
telling us which chant it was when we couldn’t find the sheet
bowing to me in the hallway
telling me I didn’t have to dry the muffin tins
forgiving me
realigning our kinhin when the last person showed up
putting your hands in gassho, turning around, and making that darn bell ring during afternoon zazen
saying “you are” in dokusan
offering me a zafu during yoga
chanting the chants, so beautifully
making mistakes
taking my plates to the kitchen
saying my mother’s name in the well- being ceremony
balancing the gomasio bowl on the zabutons
serving us during oryoki
getting the chant books during service  so that I didn’t have to figure out the form
ro-sham-bo ing with me for first spot in practice period discussion, and then thinking the exact same thing: scissors!
noticing that the big guy in front of you had the same pants as your little ones, and then checking to make sure you had three stripes in the back like he did
making tons of fudge, brownies, and meatballs during our last meal, not oryoki, so that I could totally pig out