Thankfuls

Um...so...yeah...another month went by with no blogging. A month full of time with friends, professional development opportunities, a trip to Vegas with the Gas crowd, and all the general craziness of starting a new school year. Add to that two malicious kittens who are angry that I am back at school and peeing accordingly, two new students who are very high-needs and moved in a week after school started, and a generally ginormous caseload, and I feel like this is the first time I've sat down in a month - let alone to blog. Then, I got super stuck in my head about what to write.

The perfect topic came to me this morning, however, while I was driving to work in Focus Pocus, listening to my very favorite morning radio show. Eric and Kathy are hosting a radioathon for a big children's hospital in Chicago, and along with that, they were broadcasting stories of families with sick children. One story in particular really touched my soul. In it, a woman and her husband discussed the life, and death, of their four year old daughter. They said a lot of really moving things, but mostly they talked about how thankful they were. To take their daughter home on what they thought would be the last night of her life, only to have three months with them where they focused on being happy. "We knew we had the rest of our lives to grieve," said the woman, " but we wanted to focus that moment in being happy, and thankful that we had her." Now, the couple says they still feel they are parents to their daughter by giving back to the hospital and throwing a giant New Years' Eve party there every year. So awesome. But I digress.

This past month, I've been feeling some anxiety. Anxiety over watching my grandfather slow down. Anxiety over managing overwhelming situations at work. Anxiety over worrying about my students on the weekends. Anxiety about my flaring RA. Anxiety over our finances. Gack. So I'm calling today as a time-out day, and I'm going to really try to be thankful instead. To slow down. To re-set the dial and get back to what really matters. I need to zoom out, and see the big picture. So, before this post gets any longer, here are a few of my many thankfuls (in no particular order):

• A job that challenges me and inspires me
• Students that make me think
• Having real, strong, enduring relationships with both my grandmas and my grandpa that continue to today
• Kevin- the string to my flyaway kite
• a family that I get closer to as we get older- not the opposite
• a hilarious host of inlaws- especially the Vegas crew and B & B. Love them all.
• two cats that are so happy to have me home with them that they flip out when I leave (I thought only dogs did that?)
• more than I need. In food, in possessions, in money. How many people can say that?
• the opportunity to travel- so important. Points of view have been forever altered
• the ability to read and write in not one but TWO languages
• my faith- even when I question it.
• a body that I can keep healthy(...ier)
• Passions for reading, writing, health, cooking, photography, communication 
• friends, friends, friends near and far who enrich my life

What are you thankful for?
Should this be a weekly/monthly update?
Is anyone even still reading this thing?