Three Thanks

Happy Thursday, friends!

Thanks for stopping by! If you have a blog, please link up with me and Aly at Here Comes Happiness for our weekly blog party. And if you don't have a blog, we would love to hear your "three thanks" in the comment section below!

Join in the fun any way you'd like. :)

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~~ONE~~

I am thankful for good girlfriends.

Me with BFF and ME (two of several amazing ladies in my life)

I have always been blessed with the most amazing girlfriends in the universe, and I wish I could impart to my ninth-grade girls just how important good friends are, that they should focus more on building and maintaining relationships with other girls and not spend so much time on the boys.

I am so grateful for the weekend that Alicia, BFF, Mindy, Tamara, and I were able to spend together. It was so much fun and so relaxing and just so nice being away from everything but great girls.

I wish it could happen more often.

~~TWO~~

I am thankful that Shaw asked me to coach tennis with him.

I know absolutely nothing about the sport -- but I'm learning more and more about it every day. What I really love is hanging out with students in a capacity other than teaching. The girls are so much fun, so silly, and super nice. And, it's a good excuse to be outside in the beautiful weather. :)

I also kind of want to play tennis...

~~THREE~~

I am so grateful for the kind, thoughtful students who I teach.

I had kind of a rough, stressful day yesterday, and in one of my classes, I received a not-so-nice "essay" from a student that detailed how much he disliked me, how I don't care about anyone but myself, etc. I am an extremely sensitive individual, and even though I know that I shouldn't take what 14-year-olds say to heart, I do. So, I was hurting.

In the next class, I have one of my all-time favorite students, a young man that I had in class as a freshman, who I've gotten to know well through an extra-curricular organization, and who I have again as a senior. He is just so, so sweet, always giving me great big hugs and asking me how I'm doing. Today, I had to step out of the room for a minute right before the bell rang, and I found these notes sitting on my keyboard:

I know that they were from him, as I saw him hand one to another teacher as a "good luck" prior to her presentation in front of the staff.

I know that this particular student probably did not know that I was having a rough day, but the fact that he gave these little notes to me really affected me and truly put a smile on my face. And, it really reminded me of all of the awesome students with whom I work -- the reason that I do what I do.

What are you especially grateful for today?