For these few things, I am grateful...

I was asked by the awesome Beth Browdy Gonyea to participate in this,with her. Please join me in this exercise. Each day for 5 days post 3 things you are grateful for & tag 3 friends each day as well to join.

Here are my three things for today:

1. I am infinitely grateful that I wake up everyday with the same body and mind that I had when I went to sleep. So many times you hear of someone "passing away in their sleep" and how fortunate that is. You hear of sudden strokes and the slow confusion of Alzheimer's; a fall down a flight of stairs or a push down that same flight of stairs. So yes, I am grateful for every blizzard to slog through, every drop of rain that manages to find its way into my house, every degree of heat and humidity that slows me to a crawl, as well as every bright star in the winter sky, rainbow, sunrise and sunset.

2. I am grateful for DNA; yes DNA, for without my own particular strands of DNA I would not have my dad's eyes or my mom's hair. Without their genetics I would not have Gram's hands or Pop's big toe; Ma's smile or Pa's patience. I am grateful that when I look into my daughter's eyes, I see my dad and when my son smiles a certain way, I discovered Uncle Jim. I see that look in my brothers eyes and smile too. When I see my nephew, I see my dad as a young man and my niece has his sense of humor. I am grateful my cousins share the hands and feet of our grand-genes and that we have all been woven with the threads that bind us together, though some of us are quite "textured!" Where this DNA began, I have not figured this out yet, but I know I will. I am hoping to mull this over for many more years, but when it comes time for the final answer, I know I have lived as close honesty and faith as I could and will await the next questions with hope and trust.

3. The last in this very short list of gratefulness are the people who have woven their own threads into my life.  Some threads have broken, yet they are still part of my tapestry. There are some who are hidden below, but are still weaving quietly, waiting to surface when the time is right. There are

bright splashes of Syracuse Orange, Keany Blue, Sachem Red, Warrior Red; the Blue and Gold of NASC, the Maroon of BPU and now Tanner Blue.

There are the muted grays and browns of sadness, the bright yellows of new babies being born and the breath taking whites of those taken too soon. The clerk at the store who helped me find chutney and laughed with me about the silliness of the word, chutney; the young man who flipped me the bird as I was driving along at my own pace, the students who amaze me with their resiliance, the dog who greets me with a whole body wag, the dogs who live in my memory. The cats, the bunnies the fish the turtles, they are all part of the tapestry I will finish, many years from now, if at all. I may be able to keep working on it, "later." As I said, I haven't figured that out yet. But for today, this minute, this breath, I gather you all close, marvel at the colors you all have given me, and I continue with the thread I was given at 4:30 pm, July 30, 1956 and say, thank you.

This is so simple

This is a "must read!"
https://medium.com/teaching-learning/an-open-letter-to-my-sons-kindergarten-teacher-ed1f90239ae7

I had to add in my two cents, as well.....

When my kids were little, I got into a heap of "conversation" with their Principal, because they did not submit their four summer reading projects (written) when they returned to school. They did however, spend the a part of that summer learning about all the core subjects; they calculated and estimated how many logs and branches it took to build a fort in the woods. They learned geography remembering how to find that fort in the deep woods! They learned about the planets and stars, while stretched out on their backs under a humid night sky, watching the Perseid Meteor showers grace the sky. They learned about the moon's pull on our tides and how to form letters at low tide and watch them wash into the ocean at the neap tide. They even learned how to make a sun dial to tell them when to come home. They were blessed to be able to vacation for a week or so where they could experience this, but what stayed with them when they returned to their bustling home and town, was the curiosity and ability to seek answers that is still ingrained in them at ages 20 and 22. I look back on that summer and have to thank that Principal for instilling a resolve in me to never, ever try to make my students, "fit the mold!" They are not "common" and their "frameworks" are most certainly, "outside the box" if I have properly done my job!