I've been out driving a lot today, and for some reason I happened to pass a lot of crosses on the road. You know the kind, with the flowers and sometimes balloons or candles...memorials for people who were in fatal car accidents.
I have mixed feelings about these memorials. I don't like to look at them. They make me feel sad, and a little creeped out. If my child or sister or parent died in an accident, I would want to honor and remember them in some other way. And yet...I also like the memorials. Because when I see one, I know that it means someone whose heart is aching for a loved one felt just a tiny bit better placing flowers there. For that person, it gave them comfort.
Today I am thankful that I don't need the comfort of a memorial.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Friday, November 4, 2011
Friday
Today, I'm just thankful for Friday. Because just when you're too tired for students, homework, cleaning, and cooking, and when you think you just can't go on, Friday comes around again. Now here I am, getting ready for wine night with work friends, but before I go I'm going to go hug my girls until they belly laugh!
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Breakfast for Everyone
How many of us have ever been truly hungry? I mean, the kind of hungry where you haven't eaten since yesterday and will probably only eat Top Ramen tonight. The kind of hungry where your stomach burns, and your legs are shaking, and you feel weak and just lay around. The kind of hungry where you will eat anything for breakfast...grapefruit on neighborhood trees, a can of green beans from the back of the cabinet, leftover dill pickle juice.
When people think of hunger, they usually picture children with wasting bodies from Ethiopia. However, with our nation's increasing divide between the haves and the have-nots, there are many hungry children right in your own back yard. For all that we think it doesn't happen, millions of children in our own country go to bed with empty tummies every day.
My new student Joey comes from a troubled family. He's one of 13 other kids, and I guess mom is on her own and isn't doing well. Forget that Joey comes to school every day in the same size 14 shorts, held onto his grubby 6-year-old body with an old shoelace. Forget that Joey has fluff stuck in his curly hair that has been there for 3 days. The thing you should see when you look at Joey are the dark shadows under his eyes, and the tightness of the skin across his cheeks. You should notice that his eyelids droop, and his smiles are slow to come. You should notice him watching me eat my breakfast yogurt.
On his third day in my class, with unshed tears in his eyes, Joey came to me and told me his tummy hurt. "What did you eat today?" I asked. "I didn't eat nothing," he whispered. When I asked him if he just forgot, he said that there wasn't enough cereal for him. I told him he could come eat at school in the mornings, and he said, "I don't have no dollars for that." I gave him one of Jaden's juice boxes and the banana from my lunch. I came to find out that Joey never ate breakfast, and had meager dinners. Joey ate my lunch banana every day that week while we waited for his free lunch form to be processed.
I don't know what's up with his family, but when Joey started getting daily breakfast and lunch, the shadows around his eyes began to fade. His smiles began to come quicker. He began to lift his head up during teaching. Judge his mom however you like...I certainly do. But don't begrudge Joey, who is just a little 6-year-old boy whose tummy no longer aches with hunger. Everyone...everyone... deserves to eat.
Today I am thankful for the Federal Free Lunch Program.
When people think of hunger, they usually picture children with wasting bodies from Ethiopia. However, with our nation's increasing divide between the haves and the have-nots, there are many hungry children right in your own back yard. For all that we think it doesn't happen, millions of children in our own country go to bed with empty tummies every day.
My new student Joey comes from a troubled family. He's one of 13 other kids, and I guess mom is on her own and isn't doing well. Forget that Joey comes to school every day in the same size 14 shorts, held onto his grubby 6-year-old body with an old shoelace. Forget that Joey has fluff stuck in his curly hair that has been there for 3 days. The thing you should see when you look at Joey are the dark shadows under his eyes, and the tightness of the skin across his cheeks. You should notice that his eyelids droop, and his smiles are slow to come. You should notice him watching me eat my breakfast yogurt.
On his third day in my class, with unshed tears in his eyes, Joey came to me and told me his tummy hurt. "What did you eat today?" I asked. "I didn't eat nothing," he whispered. When I asked him if he just forgot, he said that there wasn't enough cereal for him. I told him he could come eat at school in the mornings, and he said, "I don't have no dollars for that." I gave him one of Jaden's juice boxes and the banana from my lunch. I came to find out that Joey never ate breakfast, and had meager dinners. Joey ate my lunch banana every day that week while we waited for his free lunch form to be processed.
I don't know what's up with his family, but when Joey started getting daily breakfast and lunch, the shadows around his eyes began to fade. His smiles began to come quicker. He began to lift his head up during teaching. Judge his mom however you like...I certainly do. But don't begrudge Joey, who is just a little 6-year-old boy whose tummy no longer aches with hunger. Everyone...everyone... deserves to eat.
Today I am thankful for the Federal Free Lunch Program.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Being Busy
Sometimes I feel so overworked. Long ago, when Kharli and Christian were as little as Jaden and Caitlyn, I was just starting college and it was rough on us. Now, here I am working through my master's program and I'm right back there all over again. Except now, my job is so mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausting. I never want to look back and say that my children didn't get the best of me. So I try really hard to give them time and attention each day, and that makes me busier than ever.
I could look at it as my life being super-challenging right now, or I could look at it as a blessing. I'm blessed to have these little girls to dress and play with and read with and cuddle. I'm blessed to have a new home to unpack and paint and arrange. I'm blessed to have a job that I love so much that, even when it's kicking my ass, I take a deep breath and start another day. I'm blessed to be able to seek an education, and that my government will aid me in getting it. I'm blessed to have a husband who will hug me when it's tough and be someone I can lean on.
Being too busy for facebook and blogging and phone chit-chats isn't going to get me down. Today, I'm grateful for being busy.
I could look at it as my life being super-challenging right now, or I could look at it as a blessing. I'm blessed to have these little girls to dress and play with and read with and cuddle. I'm blessed to have a new home to unpack and paint and arrange. I'm blessed to have a job that I love so much that, even when it's kicking my ass, I take a deep breath and start another day. I'm blessed to be able to seek an education, and that my government will aid me in getting it. I'm blessed to have a husband who will hug me when it's tough and be someone I can lean on.
Being too busy for facebook and blogging and phone chit-chats isn't going to get me down. Today, I'm grateful for being busy.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
November
November is my favorite month. The weather is crisp and clean. I can get out my light sweaters and start thinking about scarves. Depending on which trees grow near you, you can watch Autumn change her scarves as well. The world smells like cinnamon apple cider. It's time to start thinking about food, family, friends, and all that we are grateful to have. Today I'm thankful for November.
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