Found(ation of) Gratitude: 1 & 2

Starting today, I'm going to list something I'm thankful for every day of November. I was going to post it all in Facebook statuses, but that limits my words. And then, I found this.





I made this paper heart in 5th grade, November 1999. It had been a mostly good year for my family (so far.) I don't remember my brothers fighting with my parents. Everybody seemed to be happy, or at least outwardly content, and they tolerated each other. I went to Disneyland that summer (a lifelong dream), and also got an American Girl doll for my birthday in August. And in 5th grade, you could be in band, so I had a shiny new flute that I was learning to play, although I gave up on it in the spring.

I didn't write down that I was thankful for my teacher, but I was. Ms. Trudeau was my favorite teacher, at least until I got to high school. She was full of love and life and creativity, and was always encouraging me to be as artistic as possible. She read all the first drafts of the first novels I wrote. (yep. I was that young when I caught the bug.) And her favorite shape was the heart--thus, the heart-shaped project, which has led to (hopefully) month-long inspiration.

Since I forgot to do this yesterday, I have 2 things to be thankful for today.

#1. I've found I'm thankful for education. I am thankful for the teachers I've been with, good and bad, and for the things I have learned even when I thought I wasn't learning. I'm thankful for the classrooms I've been in as an "almost teacher" and for my mentors in those classrooms, and for the middle schoolers that keep me on my toes. I'm thankful for the ability to learn. I'm thankful for the ability to teach.

#2. I've found I'm thankful for the Trinity Security officers. I left my keys on my desk when I left the apartment today. As class was ending I had a feeling that I'd forgotten something, but figured I would remember it when I got home. Well, I did remember it, when I couldn't get up the elevator, let alone onto my floor or into my apartment. Joey is working until about 5 o'clock today, therefore I would have had to wait around for 2 hours. That didn't seem like a good idea. So I called TIU Security, which I keep in my phone contacts for security reasons, and a few minutes later someone showed up to let me in. Sure, it was an awkward trip up the elevator. But I'm thankful that I'm sitting here at my desk drinking tea instead of withering away in the lounge downstairs, with nothing to read but Lord Byron's Manfred.

More tomorrow. I promise. I will probably come back to the heart project, and touch on some of the things in there. Definitely books, and my family. Probably not Disneyland.