Ten Things I'm Thankful For Tuesday

They say one of the keys to maintaining happiness is remembering what you've been given.

Some people count their blessings by keeping a gratitude journal. As for me, I'll at least try to document my gratefulness here on this blog once a week. My plan will be to post a list every Tuesday to name 10 things I'm thankful for. 

It begins now!

Ten Things I'm Thankful For Tuesday:

1. Bright ideas.

What to do when your favorite little family-run restaurant is usually closed when you go there? For me, the answer I finally figured out was to place a To Go order when I eat there so I can bring home a stack of empanadas for the fridge.

2. Lessons learned from my mistakes (specifically, ones that help me teach kids).

3. Taxis that appear when you've lost all hope of arriving on time by foot.

4. DVD audio options that include Spanish.

Always good for learning at least a few new phrases.

5. The kind of friends to whom you can say ANYTHING!

6. Alyse, a sweet girl back home who will call me "uncle" once she learns to talk.

7. External processing. 
I was always an internal processor, but in recent years, I've become acquainted with some of the unique benefits of talking things through with another person.

8. The mystery of what is to come.

9. Books that effectively help you do things with greater skill.

10. Sentences written by 8th graders after a lesson on simile! (See below)

"School is like a jungle, hard to survive."

"School is like a roller coaster because grades go up and down."

"Having a crush is like swimming without knowing how to swim because you get really nervous."

"My crush is like a fat puppy, cute and makes you laugh."

"A crush is like when the principal screams at you because your heart starts to sound like BOOM BOOM."

"A crush is like Pre-Algebra because it gives you a lot of problems."

"Having a crush is like playing hockey without protection because you will suffer without her."