Gratitude

Many years ago, I was on bed rest awaiting the birth of Rosebro#1, with little to do but read and watch TV. I became a huge Oprah fan during this time. One particular day, feeling very down about my situation, Oprah suggested, what at the time seemed like directly to me, to keep a daily gratitude journal. Again, with absolutely nothing to do, I took up this journaling idea in hopes to fill up some of the 13 hours a day I was awake and motionless and in efforts to get out of my bed rest blues. What happened is that not only did it give me something to do, but it turned into an almost daily ritual for the past 15 years. The transformation of my gratitude journal is somewhat amusing. Because I try to instill some of my better habits in my children, I have recently had them start their own gratitude journal. As you can imagine, a non-teacher assigned journal writing wasn’t exactly the first thing they wrote in their gratitude journal. I was thrilled that both of my children wrote “Mom and Dad” in their journals. This got me thinking about this whole idea of gratitude for those who love us and guide us.

    My parents were not perfect. They made many mistakes in parenting me and my siblings. Funny thing is they didn’t have perfect children either. They did the best they could with what we gave them. Being the typical middle child, I wasn’t an easy kid to parent. In my youth, I had a drug problem. I was “drugged” to school every day. I was “drugged” to church every Wednesday and Sunday. I fully believe that that “drug” problem prevented many real drug problems some of my peers seemed to battle- whether it was illegal drugs and alcohol or addictions of other kind-envy, gossip, body image, impurities. My parents consistently taught me and my siblings the value of education and the importance of faith. My father always taught me and repeats to this day that there are two things no one can take away from you-your education or your reputation. My parents reminded me daily just how important my education was. I was to work hard each day-regardless of the grade-because I was showing my work ethic and I was to always give my best because my best would be rewarded. With all the things my parents did right, this is certainly one of the best.

   I feel that my parents molded me into a person who believes, at my very core, that education was important, but it was my teachers who made me realize just how powerful education and educators really are. I had teachers who helped move me from poverty to prosperity. I had teachers who changed me from a struggling reader to a lover of all literature. If it weren’t for a teacher, I would have never seen my talent. None of this was easy. I made sure not to make it easy on any of them-my parents and many of my teachers. But I was lucky to have parents who cared and educators who understood the magnitude of their jobs. So in this Thanksgiving season, I pause to give all of my gratitude for what you do each day in the lives of students, their families, and our school community. 

Happy Holidays!