My Grateful List
One of our AP English assignments recently, inspired by Thanksgiving and a wish to lean more into gratitude and less into the stresses of school and living, was simply to post a list of 25 gratitude-inducing things. Here's my grateful list. If I wrote it 5 minutes earlier or later than I did, it would be different. I am grateful for that. Breakfast dates with old friends where the conversation picks up right where it left off, whenever that was. Words strung together so beautifully they conjure the joy and light of colored Christmas lights against a dark, cold night. The capacity for self reflection that lets me learn from mistakes. The ability to receive the love and friendship that is extended to me. And to return it in kind. Making peace with myself and my past and with living. A best friend who is the kind of person who took me in as Sandy approached, even though we were not on the best of terms right then. Former students who are now teachers paying it forward. Vu...