I'm sorry for treating you so poorly.

I'm sorry I didn't appreciate everything you do for me - like enabling me to smell beautiful flowers, taste fresh fruit, and hear my favorite songs.

I'm sorry for breaking your bones.

I'm sorry for taking you for granted. Instead of acknowledging you when you were healthy, I condemned you every time you fell ill.

I'm sorry I could only see what I looked for. I saw fat, scars, blemishes, and imperfections because I was seeking them out. I'm sorry I didn't pay attention to the strength of my legs that walked me to beautiful places or the skin that always scabbed over, trying to heal me whether I wanted to be healed or not.

I'm sorry for weighing you every day, 5 times a day. I'm sorry I determined your worth by the number on the scale.

I'm sorry I didn't spend enough time taking care of you. I'm sorry I saw it as selfish and vain instead of healthy and necessary.

I'm sorry I let unrealistic standards disregard your successes. I let how much you weighed or how people talked about you dictate my opinion of you.

I'm sorry for being ashamed of you. I'm sorry that, for all these years, I apologized for you and made fun of you and never showed you any respect. I cut, bruised, damaged, and hated you, and I'm sorry for not seeing you as the temple you are.

So, I want to thank you. As a token of my apology and my thanks.

Thank you for protecting my soul. Thank you to my heart for beating, my lungs for breathing, and my brain for thinking.

Thank you to my pancreas - even though you died (R.I.P) and I'm diabetic, I still appreciate the effort you made when you were still here.

Thank you to my feet for feeling the sand between my toes on the beach and for enabling me to rock really cute shoes.

Thank you to my eyes - you give me the opportunity to see the smiles of people I love. Without you I couldn't do what I love the most in the world - read.

Thank you to my hands - you make it so that I can pet cute animals and hold hands with the person I care about most. Because of you, I can wear lots of rings and paint my fingernails whatever color I want.

Thank you to my nose for smelling scented candles and giving Scratch-and-Sniff Stickers a reason to exist.

Thank you to my legs for taking me on long walks through lovely trails and for being there for my cat to fall asleep on.

Thank you to my tongue for tasting sour gummy worms and burning every time I eat hot sauce. Thank you for never getting tired of the taste of Lucky Charms, no matter how many times a week I eat them.

And finally, thank you to my heart - for keeping me alive when all I wanted to do was die. Thank you never giving up on me, and thank you for opening yourself up to love even after you were hurt. That's a brave thing to do in this world.

I promise to keep you safe and healthy, and to live every day knowing that you are a treasure and deserve to be treated as such.