Each year in November, many people take the time to think of all of the things for which they are thankful. I’m sure most people do this throughout the year, but with Thanksgiving, November is a great time to emphasize the positives.
One little positive can often defeat a whole bunch of negatives. I know there are people who are hungry, sick and lonely all around the world – in my opinion, I can help those around me. It is not that I do not care, in my opinion, it is my obligation to help family, friends and those in my community first.
That being said and out of the way…
What I am thankful for on this beautiful November day?
Honestly, I am so very thankful for children. Yours, mine and everybody’s children makes the world a happier and more hopeful place.
There is song by The Oak Ridge Boys that I love titled, “Thank God For Kids.” The lyrics are pretty good about explaining why children are so wonderful to have around.
“If it weren’t for kids have you ever thought, There wouldn’t be no Santa Claus.” Whether it’s a candy cane or a bicycle, there is nothing like seeing the eyes of a child who has been given something (they want or need).
The lyrics go on to cover Big Bird, Mickey Mouse, the many questions children ask and the magic they provide us all. As the lyrics note, there is “A special kind of sunshine in a smile,” I think this is a wonderful description.
We are often worried about the mortgage, paying the utility bills, having to eat bologna sandwiches or trying to figure out what tomorrow holds. That “one little positive” we are looking for is often a child’s smile or the look of hope in their eyes.
The bologna sandwiches? Quite honestly, I like them. I fry the bologna in a cast iron skillet. Yes, I am very thankful for the skillet.
Even though my children are older now, I still get to see the world through the children of friends, family and co-workers. They (children) are often a subject we discuss at work. There seems to be a contest to decide whose child has done the funniest, strangest or most outrageous thing at home or school lately.
I heard a co-worker in the hall recently, he was laughing and saying, “I know Social Services are going to come after me now.” Knowing this was going to be a good story about one of his younger children, I hit the hall to hear about it.
The guys were passing around an obvious elementary school paper that this fellow’s daughter had submitted as her “Personal Narrative about Her Parents.” I saw it was going to be good to start with – she had appropriately titled her masterpiece, “My Personal Naritive about my parents shagging.” She did spell it “Naritive” – No big deal.
Now, going in I knew that this fellow and his wife loved to go dancing about once a month and were members of a swing dancing club or more specifically “shagging.” I also knew that some folks hear the word and think something else other than the character associated with Scooby Doo or dancing.
This was a precious little third grader, who wanted to write about how much her parents enjoyed dancing together – I took it as that, but I also had to read it to understand why my co-worker was worried.
In the little girl’s words…
“Lets learn about my parents shagging. They first heard about the shagging program in 2013 by one of their friends. My dad always wants me to shag with him, but I say no. Some nights they don’t shag, they go out to eat. They even forget the moves now. I hope you learned about my parents really well.”
She even drew a picture of her parents…
Precious, and yes – funny.
However, the main thing I got from it was a smile, some laughter and the opportunity to rib my co-worker for a while. Simply put, it was beautiful. An innocent child who sees the joy in her parents’ dancing sounds wonderful to me.
It makes me want a bologna sandwich – fried, of course. It also makes me realize how thankful I am for children and the way they see the world.
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Cranks My Tractor
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I'm BN Heard and I like semicolons, dogs and teachers who actually teach children to write from the heart.
Copyright, BN Heard
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