At this holiday I am filled with gratitude for the many blessings my family and I have received through the past year.  We are blessed with each others loyalty, love and friendship.  We are blessed with a home, employment and food.  It is important to me to really live that gratitude every day as I share my gifts and talents with others.  My work as a classroom teacher fills me daily with blessings of student understanding and progress.  My work also gives me a chance each day to feel humbled by new challenges, and humbled by the blossoming of young minds in ways I often cannot take credit for, but am blessed to witness.

The past year has brought at least two major milestones for me.  My 50th birthday was a blessing and cause for celebration.  But it was preceded by the loss of my 85 year old father who lived with us for the past several years.  This second milestone was bittersweet. Sweet because dad had all his prayers for a peaceful and painless passing answered.  But bitter for those of us who remain, adapting to the loss of such a loving, kind man.  I feel so blessed to have had a father who was a great role model. He lived every day to its fullest, served others and was grateful for all that God gave him and all God allowed him to do for others.

So I am sending out a wish to each of you, my dear friends and family members, may you experience gratitude and be a model of living gratitude to everyone you meet along this journey.
Here’s a link to my dad’s obituary, that includes a great multimedia presentation created by my nephew