I Can Do Hard Things!

My dad has been pretty sick and was hospitalized for several weeks, and writing a happy list of thankfuls just wasn't in my wheelhouse. It SHOULD have been, but it wasn't. There were still many thankfuls scattered in those weeks, and here they are:

I'm so very thankful for my dad's neighbors, Tim and Linda. They have gone above and beyond, and I will never be able to thank them enough for everything they've done.

We moved my dad to a rehab facility near us, so life is a little easier now. He is doing OT and PT every day to get strong enough to go back home.

My dad has been telling all kinds of stories from his past, and there have been a few surprises thrown in that I had never heard before, including how my grandfather flew some secret missions into Vietnam for the CIA.

My husband has been my rock through all of this. Because he works remotely, he was able to stay with my dad at the hospital when I had to go to work, and when my dad was dismissed from the hospital, my husband helped orchestrate the two hour trip via ambulance and got him settled in the rehab facility. He's my rock star.

I was able to go to Pride in Kansas City and had a terrific time talking to attendees who stopped at my church's booth, telling them that we are an open and affirming congregation where all are welcome, and all means all. The parade was such fun, I made a new friend while watching it, and while it was lightly raining as my daughter and I walked from her apartment to the parade route, it stopped before the parade started.

With my daughter at the parade

Happy Pride!

This just makes me laugh

Ahh, Queen!

My assistant Baylee has kept things going in my classroom this summer when I've been gone, as have my student workers. I've missed my little nugs, but I knew they were in good hands.

When "Dirty Dancing" came out back in 1987, I saw it probably 5 times in the theater and then countless times on tv, so when the Alamo Theater in Springfield had a showing of it, I knew I had to go, and I knew I had to see it with my friend Traci. We sang along with the movie and received cool props like a motel room key and a (bouncy ball) watermelon *IYKYK 

Nobody puts us in a corner

I attended Dr. Becky Bailey's Conscious Discipline Institute along with my co-worker Alyssa and my bestie and center director Nikki. It was seven days of intensive training, and I came away from it with tools and skills for helping children with their social-emotional growth. I'm really looking forward to implementing what I learned in my classroom! We also played games in the evening, one of which might have gotten a little vicious, went to a bbq place for dinner that turned out to be a biker bar and where I faked a phone call for an excuse to get us the hell out of there, and rode a luggage cart down the hallway of our hotel until someone (not me or Alyssa) tipped it over and nearly bucked me off like a rodeo cowboy.

At the biker bar, before I ditched.

It's all fun and games...

...until someone almost tips the cart over!

I also came away from the training with new friends! We shared a table with 6 educators who were from northwest Arkansas, less than an hour away from us. Considering there were people attending from a dozen states, it was a happy coincidence. 

I didn't get a picture of it at its prime, with dirt and leaves all over it and milk spurting out on the driveway, but I opened the back door of the car after a trip to the grocery store and a gallon of milk fell out onto the driveway. I managed to get it into the house and wiped off without leaving a trail of milk through the house, so yay, and I couldn't resist a photo of the carton peeing milk into my sink.

I did it! I can do hard things! How 'bout you? Can you find the thankfuls in a hard week (weeks?). Write your post and link it with us at the Ten Things of Thankful!

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