Thankful Thursdays

It's my favorite day of the week: Thankful Thursday!

Even though my first year as a teacher is rocky and unplanned at best (the instinct to run away from the classroom screaming explicitly did cross my mind), I am still grateful for a lot of things:

1. I am thankful for having books.

You know, if there's one thing I've learned this year, it's this: Books connect people. Doesn't matter the background, culture or language. Books, movies, and television remain the same. They connect people through the same experience.

I still get excited to share the experiences of The Unfortunate Events with my students, or Bluford High Series. I love seeing the light bulb moment and the "Oh wow, my teacher read that book too?" look on their face. It literally makes my day. It makes teaching worthwhile.

2. I am thankful for my place.

I literally love my apartment. Especially my patio. Sitting out there reading books and sipping hot cocoa is the best thing since sliced bread. 

Seriously.

3. I am very grateful for gardening.

There were times when students or even life in general got me so frustrated that I had to go gardening. More specifically, I would go to the garden and pull up weeds. Sometimes, I even had names for the overly stubborn weeds.

Overall, gardening was there when sometimes family members and friends didn't understand. And that made gardening special to me. And even to this day, I will continue to be thankful for the weeds in my life despite my cleverness in mulching bed design.

Well, I've listed all of the things I'm thankful for. What are you grateful for?