EMPS: Signs of Thankfulness

This week's theme for the Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot was "Thankful." I had my doubts about coming up with anything appropriate until I noticed some papers posted outside classrooms this week at St. Michael's Parish Day School. I walk past some of the classrooms every time I go in to work at the church office.



"I am thankful for...." The kids mention friends and family the most, plus love, food and Earth. God, pets and even school are also mentioned.



I suppose as adults we tend to be embarrassed to even think about it, but would our own lists be all that different?



The school just had a canned food drive, which includes a bake sale and raises both food and cash.



The food goes to the church pantry, from which adult volunteers make up bags for the homeless and other needy people. They are always thankful to get something.



No, this isn't food from the food drive. This is my friend Jan, enjoying a deluxe platter of appetizers at our favorite Chinese restaurant (Peking Palace).  Just over a year ago, months after surgery on a broken knee, Jan was hospitalized with an infected leg, the complications from which nearly killed her. It's been a rough year, and Jan found out a week ago that she has breast cancer. Despite all this, she is feeling much, much better. She told me today that this morning, she felt overwhelmed with thankfulness just to have survived the crisis of a year ago, and for how far she's come since then.

Karen