Few weeks ago, I declared that I was not going to skip Thanksgiving this year. I announced that I would be talking about thankfulness with my students and that we would be singing a song entitled, “We Are Thankful.” We did. And we discussed things that we were thankful to have, to be, to do, and to be hopeful for in the future.
As I gave examples of each of these categories to my classes, I said things like, “I am thankful to have my computer and my car. I am thankful to have my glasses and a house…I am thankful to be a daughter and an aunt. I am thankful to be a teacher and a friend…I am thankful that I get to play the piano and guitar. I am thankful that I get to go to my nephew’s ballgames and my niece’s recitals…And I am thankful that one day I will be a better teacher. But when I was younger, when I grew up, I wanted to be a zookeeper.” And after I gave examples of each category, my students talked. And I listened. I let a sense of Thanksgiving fill my heart.
I didn’t post last Thursday. I let our crazy Thanksgiving family portrait speak for itself and went to bed happy and exhausted after a good day with family. I spent the next two days doing homework for ten hours a day and then emerged yesterday to go to both church and to visit my best friend on her birthday. The latter was an unplanned visit, but it was a visit I wanted to make. After all, the zookeeper needed to visit her astronaut A on her big day.
My best friend’s birthday always falls over Thanksgiving break. Believe it or not, I have a vivid memory of Thanksgiving break around 20 years ago. I was home from my studies at Meredith and it was cold outside. A’s birthday was coming and I didn’t know what to get her, so I got out my guitar and wrote her a song. I typed up and printed out the lyrics and glued them onto an old blue clock. I decorated the clock with shiny stickers and colored decorations with pencil doodles. I have no idea why I decided that presenting the lyrics on an old clock was a good idea. But I did it. And I clearly remember it to this day.
I wrote:
Two little girls from two country towns and two different dreams
When she grows one wants to be a zookeeper and the other wants to walk in space
But each goes to church on Sunday to learn about the word of God
And each one prays one common prayer, that God will send her a friend from above
Two college girls from two country towns and two different dreams
The astronaut wants to be an elementary teacher and the zookeeper just wants to sing
But each one still goes to church to learn about the word of God
And each one still prays one common prayer, that God will send her a friend from above
On a rock in the woods up in the mountains sit two children of God
They look below them and see peaceful waters flowing over the rocks and down the hill
The astronaut cries, “Please don’t walk in front of me,” and the zookeeper cries, “Please not behind,”
Just walk beside me and be my friend so that together we’ll sink or swim
Two grown girls from two different towns and two different lives
The zookeeper teaches music class and the astronaut helps raise a small child
But each one still goes to church to learn about the meaning of love
And each one still prays one common prayer, “Thank you God for the friend from above.”
A few months ago, A and I sang the song to A’s older daughter. Her daughter grinned from ear to ear. That same daughter grinned yesterday as she played with the teddy bear that I put in A’s present bag because I knew that the bag would be invaded by said daughter.
What A’s daughter did not see was the fancy Hallmark card that I gave her mother. And on the inside, I wrote two haiku:
Some things just happen ~ No marked beginning or end ~ Such is our story
We are all grown up ~ Astronaut and zookeeper ~ Still thankful for friends
And I am thankful. For friends and family and time and good meals and children and laughter and cars and words and journeys and love.
You?
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