Gratitude...

As we enter Thanksgiving week, the concept of gratitude is most definitely on my mind. Ok... it's been on my mind for a while because my Sun and Stars and I have combined our homerooms to teach them about global things and are trying to help them develop empathy and so that's what we've been doing twice a day for weeks, but all of that gratitude was focused on the kiddos. Now, I'm thinking about gratitude in my own life. Along that vein, I've decided to generate a list of things for which I'm grateful. Here I go:

1) My family- Where would I be without them?

2) Having a network of friends who are creators (Like the maker of the dress I'm wearing here!)

3) Shelter- When asking our students if they'd rather live without food, water, clothes, or shelter, most of them said shelter. I agreed with them, but am still having a tough time imagining life without it.

4) My Sun and Stars- It is so amazing to have a rock of a person to call upon at any time of day or night for any reason at all.

5) Food- Self-explanatory.

6) Water- Also self-explanatory, but just last night my Sun and Stars and I were talking about what life would be like without access to clean drinking water. We decided that we would, quite literally, die.

7) My students- I adore them, even though they make me feel like I'm losing my mind about 90% of the time.

8) My mental health- It's been an incredible roller coaster for the last year, but things have evened out amazingly in the last few months. It is so wonderful to feel like a human being again.

9) Nature- This is another thing that I cannot imagine life without. While Denver is much cleaner than Vegas was, I still find that often when I go out to take photos, litter is everywhere. Whenever I see it, my dedication to cleaning the planet and reducing consumption is renewed.

10) Life- Just in general... I've truly come to know that happiness cannot exist without sadness, but that the only constant in life is change. If it's bad, it won't stay bad forever, and if you manage to just keep going, it can be pretty amazing!