Thank you

Happy Thanksgiving! Now that I have recovered from the feast enough that I no longer wish to throw up (yes, I know you all wanted to know that), here are 100 people/things I am thankful for:

1.     God, for hope beyond all and love despite all

2.     David, for your constancy, being in this with me, breakfast in bed, and Netflix binges

3.     Netflix

4.     Chick-fil-A

5.     Chick-fil-A sauce

6.     Health insurance (love that “cost: $0.00”)

7.     Modern medicine (what did people do for headaches before?!)

8.     Pumpkin pie

9.     Brian, for your music suggestions and encouragements

10.  Bette, for surprise packages at just the right moment

11.  Caitlin, for afternoon phone calls and unwavering belief

12.  Andrew, for comic relief

13.  Jonathan, for your honesty

14.  Abby, for your thoughtful notes and questions

15.  Caitlin Marie, for your optimism

16.  Kaitlyn Elizabeth, for your hugs

17.  Anderson, for making me laugh at it all and laughing with me

18.  Tijunae, for giving me hope for all of us

19.  David S., for offering to beat up misbehaving students

20.  Grandma W., for your warmth

21.  Grandpa W., for your little comments that say it all

22.  Grandma E., for looking after me

23.  Grandpa E., for your anecdotes

24.  Mom, for being my mentor

25.  Dad, for Skyping me in the middle of your work day when I was having bad day

26.  Caroline, for being so dependable

27.  Sophia, for looking deep

28.  Lauren, for doing everything that needs doing

29.  Joshua, for always being so happy to see me

30.  Sam, for noticing when I was feeling better and entertaining my many questions

31.  Mikki, for encouragement, hugs, and talking about books

32.  Erv, for showing YouTube videos in Sunday school

33.  Donuts at church

34.  Capleville, for lengthy greetings

35.  Millbrook, for taking us back in

36.  AP & TH, for coming when I’m about to lose my mind

37.  Wolfgangs, for having pancakes that put dessert to shame

38.  Squash

39.  Butter

40.  Brown sugar

41.  Highways

42.  GPSs

43.  Sweet potatoes

44.  Ice cream

45.  Trees

46.  Mary Oliver

47.  J.K. Rowling

48.  Mitch Albom

49.  Paulo Coelho

50.  E.E. Cummings

51.  Used book shops

52.  Chocolate

53.  Tea

54.  Pillows

55.  Heated car seats

56.  Warm water

57.  Happy socks

58.  Popcorn

59.  Erasers

60.  Snow on pine trees

61.  Snow on bare branches

62.  ZL, for always greeting me

63.  BG, for always asking about my weekend

64.  LK, for trying

65.  SH, for your comments that say everything I’m not allowed to say

66.  LW, for being brilliant

67.  AH, for your curiosity and persistence

68.  JJ and KH, for quietly doing everything I ask

69.  ER, for your pursuit of excellence

70.  Apples

71.  Peanut butter

72.  Public libraries

73.  ET, for that look on your face when you accidentally drop kicked a pen into my back

74.  Billy, for your care and hugs

75.  Christopher, for all the beautiful nature pictures your post on Instagram

76.  Hanten

77.  Photographs

78.  Laughter (especially when the alternative is crying)

79.  Perspective

80.  Flowers

81.  Earthworms

82.  Crossword puzzles

83.  Frozen yogurt (excuse for the toppings)

84.  Gibson’s Donuts

85.  Soy sauce

86.  Kale

87.  Hairdressers, for pampering me

88.  Life

89.  Health

90.  Ferrous sulfate

91.  Whipped cream

92.  Teapots

93.  DW, for fixing my computer and pencil sharpener (every time)

94.  DC, for fixing my stapler

95.  Dishwashers

96.  The ocean

97.  Lotion

98.  Electricity

99.  Automatic billing
100.  Comfortable shoes

(Mostly that helped to make me thankful, so congratulations if you made it all the way through!)

Off to boil another cup of tea now - 

Love and thanks to all,

Anneke

Bird houses and Halloween candy

This past week Thursday all the sophomores took the ACT Plan test (like the PSAT). I was assigned to administer the test to the more...boisterous class of 10th graders. After taking over an hour to bubble ("Are you interested, not interested, or slightly interested in learning how to build a bird house?" + 70 other items and etc.), we settled into 2 hours of silence.

Yes, silence. You read that correctly. Apparently, when things reach a certain level, they can take them seriously. But that's not what I'm here to say.

When I got past the mind-boggling boredom of walking around a room watching students take standardized tests in silence for 2 hours, or perhaps because of that boredom, as I reflected on the situation, watching my students take the test, this feeling rose up inside of me.

Fondness.

I know that that doesn't really make any sense, but in that moment I felt fondness for my generally most troublesome class (this would be the class that I write about, for example, throwing crackers at me). They were doing what they were supposed to do, I felt like I was being a real teacher, and they asked me questions as if they needed me.

So the beauty of being a teacher touched me this week in the most unexpected situation. I realized that I am involved in the lives of all of these students. I am their teacher, whether they like me or not, and I am here to guide them and support them. In what other profession do you get to form relationships with so many seemingly random people? Public education - it serves anyone. There are no requirements past being a certain age and living in the city. And that makes our shared humanity seem so real.

Then of course, the next day in the same class, I was forced to dictate notes to a student to write on the board so that I could view the entire class at once, because that is the only way to prevent them from throwing things at each other. (Earlier in the week a girl got hit in the face with a jawbreaker and required ice. Week after Halloween ups the ante in the throwing wars.)

And then I got to leave the classroom to hang out with a friend and eat Chinese food and, for the first time, go to a drive-in theater, where we munched 90% off Halloween candy and snuggled in blankets against the cold. And now here I am Sunday night again, after we watched the entire first season of How to Get Away with Murder on Netflix yesterday and today, blogging, and feeling Monday morning creeping up on me. But maybe one more dish of ice cream first.

Side note on the throwing wars of the boisterous sophomores: One day this week one of the students from the boisterous class was in my calmer sophomore class during break, and he asked me which of the sections was better behaved. At first I thought he was joking, but he kept asking, so I said, "Well, this class never had paper and toilet paper throwing wars in my class, they don't start dance parties in the corners of my room, and they don't get up and run around the room yelling."

"Oh," he said, "Well...we don't do that that often! Only like...once a day!"

On an even less related side note that connects in terms of a lack of concept of numbers, today the children's message at church was about giving. The speaker started by asking if the children would rather find a dollar or a penny on the ground, and then why. "I would rather find a dollar," one boy said, "because it's a lot more. A dollar is like FOUR pennies." At this point someone must have whispered to him the truth, because after a pause he shouted, "A hundred pennies! Oh my God!"

Cheers,
Anneke