My Thirty Days of Thanks....Part Two

For some reason, all the days' appreciation in this, the second section of thankfulness, begin with the letter 'F'.......and on this day, I am grateful for.....  

Day 9:  Fridays...and hiding behind a bookcase at work to do the happy dance!

Day 10 - Fall Foliage courtesy of
my talented little sister, Lisa

Day 10:  Fall Foliage:  Today I am thankful for my mulching lawn mower.  All those red, orange, and yellow leaves have fallen in the backyard creating a colorful fall blanket on the ground.  Wait a minute!  Now it's all dried up and brown and ugly. So....today I am thankful for my mulching lawn mower!

Day 11: Food, Family, and Freedom...I am thankful for the Veterans...my friends, and their parents, siblings, cousins....thank you all and thanks, Dad, for all the sacrifices you've all made for us!  We were blessed to have a delicious homemade Italian dinner this Veteran's Day, made by my honorary Italian wife (She's an honorary Italian, not an honorary wife!) at a table surrounded by family and friends.

Day 11 - Thanks Dad!
Day 12 - We miss you.....

Day 12: Fathers:  Mine was the best!  Gentle beyond words, he was the guy who was the voice of reason.  When I told him I had a trouble, he calmly made it better in a voice I can still hear today.  When Mom, who never drove, needed to get somewhere, Dad was always there with keys in hand, never complaining.  He was the typical Dad: moving his foot around the floor of the car not saying a word when he taught me to drive, praying I would hit the right pedal; taking any level Math book when I had difficulty solving that Algebra problem, reading the material, and showing me the way without giving me the answer; and, of course, lifting me by the shirt, pinning me against the refrigerator, and demanding an apology to Mom that ONE time I told her I hated her!  I remember the last days when he was afflicted by Parkinson's Disease, and I was sitting with him at a function at his assisted living facility. I held up a cookie and asked him if he wanted it, thinking he would grab it.  Instead, he worked his way to the cookie I was holding and slowly took a bite.  Poignant to say the least.  We lost him seven years ago today. I thank my father: for his profound advice, "Expect the unexpected when you have kids!", for the compassion I hope I have inherited, and for his commitment to his family.  He is, to this day and beyond, a blessing!

Day 13:  Fourth Graders.....the ones who have just enough attitude to be endearing, but not enough to be uncontrollably disrespectful.....enough dependence to be inquisitive, but not enough to be needy.....enough energy to exhaust me and keep me on my toes, but enough heart and passion to keep me working in this job for so many years.  Yes, I am thankful for fourth graders.

Day 14:  Fresh-mouthed Students - It's so rare when a student treats me unfairly.  It took me so by surprise when it happened, that I didn't know how to react.  It was a late September or early October day, and I pleasantly said to a student who was leaving one of my classrooms to attend a school in another district, "I hear you are leaving us!" and her immediate reply was, "I see your chest hair!"  I was dumbfounded, but I believe I handled the situation maturely and to the best of my ability, walking away simultaneously saying, "RUDE!" and thinking, Good riddance! Yea, I am thankful for the handful of fresh-mouthed students I have encountered over the years, for it is those few who remind me that there are many their size that are so endearingly special, and that the many are so much more powerful than the few.

Day 15:  Fifteenth.....Yes, it's the fifteenth already!  We've made it halfway through another month.  Some of us are getting paid, some of us are paying our bills and reviewing our finances, and some of us are planning for our most thankful of holidays......and I'm thankful that I'm still here, and have been able to reflect and share the first fifteen days of thankfulness!  It's too bad that it took a few thoughtful Facebook friends and the month of November to force me to sit and take the time to realize just how fortunate I am.  Days 16 through 30.....here I come!