thank you

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.

It reminds me that I don't say thank you often enough, even though I say it more than I used to.

So, in the spirit of the season:

Thank You.

Each and every single one of you, in some small way, has been my teacher this semester.

Thank You.

You have taught me patience, compassion, empathy, humor, and occasionally fussiness.

Thank You.

You have taught me how differently we respond to the good and bad in our lives.

Thank You.

You have inspired me.

Thank You.

You have responded to media-enhanced madness with maturity beyond your years.

Thank You.

You have given me reason to wish this weekend was over, just so I can see you smile as you put college application season in your rearview mirror.

Most of all, you have succeeded in reminding me why I do this job in the first place.  You matter a great deal in this world and I'm proud to be on your team.  I look forward to the second half of our journey; in a blink it will be June, and I intend to suck the marrow* out of every minute we have together.  For now, enjoy this time with family and friends, and tell at least one of them:

Thank You.

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[*There is a part of my brain that is still immature enough to imagine taking that quote out of context so that it reads "I intend to suck." That is most definitely not the spirit in which I intend it. The idea is actually an allusion to Henry David Thoreau, who wrote: “I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately, I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, To put to rout all that was not life and not when I had come to die Discover that I had not lived.”]