"I am thankful for .... "

Two nights ago, I stumbled upon my gr 6 journals and proceeded to let this blast from the past consume my sleep time almost entirely. One of my favourite teachers in the world, Mrs. Gray, had made us use the heading, "I am thankful for ...", to write down one thing we were grateful for each and everyday before our actual journal entries. What a brilliant idea. Though mine went along the lines of "I am thankful for playing DDR last night or having 2 fruit rollups for snack today or getting straight A+'s on my last report card (RECOGNIZE hahaha)" .... it was a starting point to get us youngin's to begin exercising our appreciative juices (this sounds way dirtier than intended). Like they say, 'put a little gratitude in your attitude, son!' Now looking back, I'm really glad she made us do that even though half the things i wrote were absolute kaka bs ("I am thankful for this pencil i am writing with" wtf?!? i reallllly doubt i was that happy with it). And this is what I think being a successful teacher is all about -- implementing and enforcing important values into the students' childhood/adolescent years despite their half-assed desires to understand/care about/translate it at the time. 10 years down the road, they will look back at it, realize its significance and holler with the utmost appreciation, "daaang that was a serious teacher right there." But we will hang on to the teacher talk for now -- maybe until after my applications for teacher's college are done ;)!

Contrary to my aunt's beliefs, I do not agree with the fact that we have nothing to be thankful for this year. Indeed, it's been a tough one. Maybe it's my over-optimistic nature, but we just have to extract the positives from the situations. After all, what's done is done and really, what other choice do you have but to move on?

On my 21st thanksgiving day, I say HERRRO and 'GIVE THANKS' for the following:

+ Good health

This year has proven especially how important it is to have a healthy body. If you don't have your health, you don't have anything.

+ Family

Big families always call for big troubles. But when serious shit goes down, none of these matter anymore. Though we're spread throughout the world, we managed to pull together as a unit and tough out the worst times of our lives. It sucked but now we're closer than ever. As it always is, you win some and you lose some .... just hoping this victory outweighs the losses by a million and some.

+ Education

Incredibly thankful for the chance to be able to pursue 'higher education' and to do it away from home. These few years have taught me too much and I cannot continue talking about this without realizing that it's my last year. Hence, this reflection cannot continue at the moment as this big face will soon begin to bawl.

And of course most importantly ....

+ bl.ejm.nq.cm.pcb.ml.jl.

"Sometimes in life there really are bonds formed that can never be broken. Sometimes you really can find that one person who will stand by you no matter what. Maybe you'll find it in a spouse and celebrate it with your dream wedding, but there's also the chance that the one person you can count on for a lifetime, the one person who knows you sometimes better than you know yourself is the same person who's been standing beside you all along." ...... I've got more than one ♥. and yes, i totally just quoted BRIDE WARS AKA BEST MOVIE EVA (you love it).

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.