This years harvest

389 years ago complete strangers got together and shared a meal of thanks for a bountiful harvest. Or maybe something else. I’m not a historian, so I don’t want to pretend to pick apart Thanksgiving to find out what it really meant. My harvest this year has been plentiful. There were good fruits and bad, but that’s ok. I’ve learned to toss the bad fruits into the compost pile in hopes to get better fruit from their decomposed remains. I am thankful for all of it. The good, the bad, the downright ugly. And trust me, there has been a lot of ugly. It’s been a year of rallying.

I think the biggest highlight of this year is my niece. She was blessed with an extra chromosome that has touched each member of my family in a different way. There was excitement, fear, sadness, joy, and a lot of learning. Buddy Walk fundraising that raised well over $1000 without even trying. Plans for next years walk, team names, shirts, and fundraising ideas. Seeing my niece smile and laugh amazes me each and every time, knowing that she has gone through so much. But she can rally.



I got a job. I honestly love my job. It’s awesome; amazing. My classroom has steel security doors and deadbolts. And you know what? It excites me that there are a few students who REALLY do care to learn. There have been good days and bad. There have been perfect scores and complete failures, but in the end, there were learning lessons. I credit my 4 month old niece for teaching my students about chromosomes and genetic abnormalities. She can’t talk, but oh the things I imagine that she has to say…amazing!

I have guided my students through their friends and family members being murdered, incarcerated, MIA. I have guided young girls through the end of pregnancies, raising babies, I have been the first to know they were pregnant. What an amazing thing that is. The joy, the fear, the unknown. Creating a whole new science program, being in charge of the whole department at my school, having veteran teachers come to me for my opinion, I have all of this at work. I love it. I love that I can be sick, saddened, exhausted, about to cry, only to have my principal give a shoulder to lean on, asking if I need anything. My Response? “I can rally.” Those words seem to make everything better.

I got engaged! Who thought that would ever happen?! Seriously. Now we just have to wait for actually getting married. Haha! Anyone want to plan my wedding?

I sit here listening to Christmas music, tired from the plentiful Thanksgiving meal shared with family and friends, feeling fortunate for the good fruits in my life. I am thankful for the bad things and the ugly things that have taught me enough about life to know that I can let them crumble and fall to pieces and turn them into something good.

This year has been a year of deconstruction, of starting new. This years fire is slowly dying. Next years fire holds untouched knowledge, a newness only to be ignited when ready. Next year we will let the ugly be overcome by good. We will rally.