Happy Thanksgiving

• I am thankful for the beautiful world where we live. I've lived in five distinctly different climate zones in the United States, and can say, without hesitation, that all of them have natural beauty. Each of the places was quite different from the others, yet all had some feature that struck me with awe in its glorious wonder.
• I am thankful for my health. There have been times when I wasn't particularly healthy, and each of those times reminds me to be grateful that it was something from which I could recover. I hope to stay a vigorous person for many years to come. It is a priceless bounty.
• I am thankful for my faith in God. I have a strong belief in His loving care for all of His children. I'm sure He is often grieved as a parent over the choices we, the children, make to harm one another. I feel His love for me often, and recognize His Hand in the blessings I have.
• I am thankful for my job. Again today, I met with parents who thanked me effusively for the relationship I have with their child. How enthused their kid is to come to school--because I am the teacher. It is humbling and gratifying to be appreciated for something I work so hard to do well.
• I am thankful for reading and music and good movies and bacon and cold milk and KittyCat and driving and the full moon and the constellation Orion and flowers and bird songs and automatic washers. Life is filled with wonders.
• I am thankful I can be a mother and a grandmother. It has been a long strange trip, but this role has enriched my life immeasurably in unimagined ways. I could never have dreamed that a person could have so many emotions all connected to one part of living.
• I am thankful for my husband. He and I epitomize the "strange and wonderful relationship"---we alternate between the roles. We help each other, we inspire each other, we provoke each other, and we cannot imagine who we'd be now without each other. I'm glad to be his wife.