Work.

You all might remember an age during which our parents or teachers explained that even as children we each had our "job." Mommy has to go to work, but you have to do chores.  Daddy has to go to school and teach for work, and you have to go to school and do math. And sometimes it was hard, to see the benefit of learning long division or how to find the object of a sentence. It wasn't always easy to grasp that you might not get paid with money anything tangible, but learning was a payoff in and of itself.

The results were easier to see as we got older, and in turn the work became more challenging and difficult. But in a world where money is always "tight" and you are almost always dispensable as an employee, it's important to be thankful for having a job at all.

Today I am thankful for my job. (I am also thankful for the jobs my husband has had in the past, and thankful for the he is about to have and hopeful that it will be fantastic.) I might only work 8 hours a week and spend most of those 8 hours just waiting and waiting for students to come in so I can tutor them, but when those students do arrive I give them all I've got. I don't just tolerate my job, I love it!

Yesterday my boss invited me to head up a "story time" program for the children of students on campus. It's something she's wanted to do but doesn't have the time, and she'd been asking some of the family tutors. Apparently none of them "lit up" like I did when she suggested it. Even without saying anything the excitement was evident in my body language.

I am thankful for a wonderful boss who loves teaching, and sees my love for teaching and books, and I am thankful for the potential adventure ahead of me. (I've seriously already started thinking about different books to use and activities to go with them.)

End Day 6. More thankful thoughts tomorrow!