Three Things...Gratitude Thread

[leebee]

I was not a big fan of school; mostly I found it boring, and didn't have many (any?) friends at the school I attended. However...

I grew up in a Boston bedroom community. With the exception of 7th grade, the schools I attended were always clean and well-funded. My class was the first one to attend the new high school for all 3 years (9th grade was junior high). We had adequate textbooks and supplies, and the "new" high school had terrific science labs, library, language-learning labs, home ec and shop spaces, and a skating rink!

A few teachers along the way: Mrs. Power and Miss Messenger from elementary, Mr. Cunniff from junior high, Mr. Terlizzi from 7th grade and high school.

Having my own car. We had an open campus in high school, so I could pretty much come and go as I pleased.

 

[Tink-osophy]

Not much, tbh!!! Especially secondary school.

Still, even though I feel I could have thrived much more in a different environment, I do appreciate I had a good grounding in the basics (at home and at school), because I know not everyone had/has that.

I did love that school was in walking distance!!

I also loved the special and seasonal events at primary and secondary school (Summer Fair, Christmas Concerts, Discos etc.. etc..)

 

[bluecastle]

Before I get to my school memories, I have to say that today I had normal labs at my 6 month check up with my oncologist and I am so very grateful for that!!
I guess I am the outlier here: I loved school! Mostly elementary. Junior high was a disaster and high school was all over the map of highs and lows.
At home, I was never praised, only criticized, so when my teachers praised me I ate it up. So, I’d say #1 is all the teachers who helped me to feel good about myself, especially my music teachers.
#2 would have to be the “advanced” classes that I was in from 4th-6th grade. School was never boring and I still remember the projects and activities we did, and have reconnected with my bestie during those years on FB
#3 the field trips we took in elementary school. We were around 45 mins to an hour from NYC, and we took so many trips there! We saw a taping of Password, went to a museum of miniatures in Brooklyn, and other fun stuff. In high school we went to see a production of Our Town. My family couldn’t afford to go to shows, so that was a first for me!

 

[TiggerTrigger]

1. The pond - I really was not a fan of my 11th grade biology teacher or the class in general, but they allowed him to build a pond in the middle of his classroom. Our desks were positioned in sort of a misshapen oval around the pond. Seriously...it was like someone's nice outdoor koi pond in the middle of my science classroom. At least if I'm going to hate a class, I can enjoy the gentle sounds of the waterfall and pump, look at the greenery around the water, and watch for the occasional fish.

2. An excellent school district - I grew up in a very well funded district that was ranked one of the tops in the state and nation at the time. The downside to that... well funded also means very well funded people and all of the materialistic snobbery and nastiness that comes with it. Still, it's a factor when applying to colleges and it supposedly gave all of us a leg up in the application process. It also meant that teachers were beating down the doors to teach in our schools.

3. Choir - While I didn't enjoy it as much in college, choir class in high school was usually my ego boost and total peace for the day.

 

[flyingdumbo127]

Bluecastle and praise extra to God indeed!

Tigger, I first took choir in 12th grade as an elective and discovered such peace in it, too. Glad you had a similar experience. God willing one day I would love to once again be part of a church choir.

 

[SpaceMan5]

I will go with my college years.

The friends and good times we shared

The parties, keggers with said friends

And being able to schedule my classes later in the day because of said friends and parties.

 

[newski_mom]

@bluecastle - so thankful to hear about your lab results!!

1. I also seem to be an outlier and really liked school. My mom was a business teacher at our local high school. Luckily she was a well liked teacher. She was a rule follower, but she treated everyone fairly, so I think that's why she was liked. So, I'm thankful for my mom teaching at my high school!

2. I'm thankful for tennis - I played in high school and loved it. Our team was never super fantastic, but we went to state a couple of times and we all had a great time playing together!

3. I'm grateful my kids also had good school experiences. They always had a good group of friends and I personally think that is the key to having good school years, so I'm very thankful that they did1

 

[flyingdumbo127]

Newski_Mom, your mom sounds like a wonderful teacher who made a difference to so many students! I appreciate all she did. I also agree with you that friends can make all the difference. I really didn't have consistent close friends during my school years. I had a closer-knit group during my very early private school years. In middle and later elementary school, I did have some closer friends at times. Junior High, I wasn't popular and sadly due to my home life and sometimes also my TMJ issues (which I had no clue then were TMJ) how I sometimes spoke which then was much different than today (today I might come across as a little slower or stiffer at times) some people labeled me as not too bright or to be outcast. I did have a closer friend who I will always be grateful for in 12th grade. This is also where I wish I had been able to grow up going to church and having that additional support system. I extra thank you and everyone in our lovely thread for the kind people you are! God Bless You and Sweet Dreams.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Favorite teachers

Being able to walk to and from school

Math, of course!

 

[PollyannaMom]

Today is an interesting "holiday"-

Today's Topic (Fri, 3/15) - 3 unexpected, amazing, or awe-inspiring things you're grateful for.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Yesterday …School was an escape for me…away from my mother.

I really enjoyed school, studying, and made many friends in elementary, high school and college. Sadly, most of my high school friends have passed.

I studied to be a math teacher and taught in Mercer County NJ. I especially enjoyed 6 years in Trenton, NJ. Where I taught basic math skills in the inner city. DH’s factory closed, and we moved to Dayton Ohio.

There I taught in a branch of University of Cincinnati for 20 years and I retired in 2015.

Today..Dumbstruck

There were struggles in my life, but as an adult now in my 70’s, I look back and am dumbstruck by the realities that has been my life….as an adult I reconciled with my mother, who did the best she could, and once told me” I was afraid to love my children, I felt I had to mold them to be good. “. She learned to calm down and “enjoy” life. I thank God for my husband, children grandchildren, sister, and friends and relatives.

I went to a professional family counselor after my second son was born. She gave me the courage to not be the kind of mother my mother was.

So, I can’t pick even three things, but for all of it….I am grateful.

 

[flyingdumbo127]

Grace of God, His Presence with and to me in all. I pray to have become stiller, more prayerful, and plain thankful, brighter evveryday witness these last 4 years.

Peace and extra joy of singing in God's choir during my first Easter sunrise service and Christmas Eve late service.

Incredible blessing of this time closer with my dad.

 

[WDWEPCOT]

The horrible car accident I was in - lucky I was not killed
The lifelong injury I sustained years later Drs were dumbfounded as to why I was not paralyzed - they could not understand how I was still walking - very blessed and grateful I still am
Another incident I will not go into but I’m lucky to be alive - very blessed and grateful as I came very close to meeting God in person !!

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Tigger, I first took choir in 12th grade as an elective and discovered such peace in it, too. Glad you had a similar experience. God willing one day I would love to once again be part of a church choir.

I hope you're able to sing again soon. At the very least, I find it to be a very cathartic activity.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Celestial Events - More specifically, I'm thinking about the upcoming solar eclipse. Of course, I'm also hoping for good weather and a lack of chaos getting to view said awe inspiring event. Still, I'm just in awe of all of this kind of stuff...from eclipses, meteor showers, and comets to the planets and other night sky kind of stuff.

Bad Car Accident - We were fully stopped at a red light, about a mile from home and waiting to turn onto the highway feeder road, when an SUV going about 75 mph slammed into us and forced us into the truck in front of us. While we dealt with several months of back pain along with nightmare insurance issues, everyone was amazed that we all walked away from the crash.

National Parks, Monuments, and Memorials - I'll be honest, not all of them have come with that big awe inspiring, total amazement, kind of wow... but many do. Some of them are wow just because you've seen things in pictures, tv and movies so many times that it's hard to fathom that you're really seeing it face to face in real life. Grand Teton, Devil's Tower, Mount Rushmore, Mesa Verde, Dinosaur, Arches, Bryce Canyon, Little Bighorn, OK City, and Carlsbad Caverns fit this reaction. Then you've got the ones you never expected to be a big WOW that really throw you for a loop...like Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Grand Staircase Escalante, Death Valley, Badlands, and to some degree White Sands. Then you've got the ones that were every bit of the WOW and THEN SOME that you were expecting. This would be parks like Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Rocky Mountain, Zion and Glacier. While there are some I legitimately see no reason to repeat and just visited to check them off our list (Great Smoky Mountains, Pipestone, Browns Canyon, Hot Springs, Great Sand Dunes, Guadalupe Mountains, Petroglyph, Saguaro, etc.), there are some that have some wow and awe factors, but other issues clouded our experiences. Like Theodore Roosevelt...we had already been to Badlands, so seeing more badlands in a different park doesn't have as much wow the second time around. I'm sure it would have been awe inspiring if it were our first park with badlands. At Wind Cave, they canceled our cave tour, so we didn't see enough to determine if there's real awe factor. I was really young when I visited Mammoth Cave, making my memories too spotty to decide if there was real awe. Then you've got Everglades, where our excess of close alligator encounters were just too scary (especially adding in all of the spiders) to allow me to objectively decide if that was awe or just raw fear. Hoping to add more to the AWE side of this list

 

[DaisyDuck001]

Daytime glacier cruise in Alaska
Scenic Byway 12 in Utah
Daytime boat ride at Niagara Falls

 

[bluecastle]

Awe-inspiring
1. Acadia National Park
2. Cinderella castle, every trip
3. Witnessing my granddaughter’s birth and also my giving birth to my daughter with no medications!

 

[flyingdumbo127]

Thanks, dear Tigger

 

[1420Elexismc]

Nebulae
The ocean
Nature

 

[SpaceMan5]

@bobbiwoz that was a very deep and heartfelt post. Much peace to you my friend.