Grateful Friday

When Mark was born, I felt guilty that I didn't have nearly the razor sharp attention to give to him that I had with his siblings.  I had these two bigger kids who took a lot of my time.

Then one day I realized that giving Mark Braeden and Emma more than compensated for my lack of time.

I still am narcissistic enough to believe my children are a gift.  Now I share them with my students.

We've been studying biomes and they selected a biome to research and write about.  A lot of them chose the taiga because wolves.  Braeden and Anna came to my classroom yesterday to talk about the taiga in Russia (Anna) and to show a Minecraft rendition of different biomes (Braeden).  They brought their sparkle and enthusiasm.  Desi was right about those two.  Power couple.

Anna was a natural.  They were entranced.

The kids loved them and asked a million random questions and I also loved it.  As a bonus, we've been reading about the first flight this week so Braeden showed some pictures of his visit to Kitty Hawk and told them about it.  He even showed them where it is on the map.  That's my son, using the map.

Mark wonders when he gets to come and I don't know.  For one thing, he has school.  For another thing, I'm not sure what he would share that would align with our curriculum.  I mean he's awesome at building and fixing things and cracking me up and he knows every song from the 80s but we aren't really studying that stuff.  (Also he knows some Spanish but my native Spanish speakers know more.)

(He could teach them light saber moves; they would lose their minds.  Maybe for an end of year party....)

Anyway.  I'm grateful for my kids.  It's fun to share them with my students and vice versa.

***

We went to Emma's concert last night and I LOVED IT.  Carmina Burana was astounding.

All four choirs plus the philharmonic orchestra were crammed on the stage and I spent the entire time scanning the identically dressed white girls who all had their dark blonde/light brown hair pulled back to see which one was Emma.  It was like Where's Waldo except way harder.  I never did find her and it turned out that where we were sitting made it impossible to see her anyway.

She was lovely and ebullient after and I would have loved to get a treat and visit with her like we used to do after her concerts, but Mama has a bedtime.  I love having Emma in choir concerts again. (And I wish we'd taken a picture of her.)

I'm grateful we live close to BYU.

***

I have been thinking about how fortunate I am to be able to do something I love.  It feels like a gift and when I consider the opportunities and people and circumstances who helped me get where I am, I realize it is a gift and I probably didn't deserve it.

I'm grateful for my education and opportunities.