"Thankful Thursday" is running a day late this week because I feel like I've been in an alternate universe all week long. I've been teaching thirteen and fourteen year-olds how to be swim instructors for ISD 196. As long as I've been there, we've always taught this class Monday through Thursday so in my mind today is Thursday. Never mind that we celebrated Christmas on Monday and today really is Friday . . .
What I am thankful for this week actually happened at work today. We had eleven students in our class, one of them painfully awkward. Seriously - a fourteen year old with absolutely NO social skills, NO ability to interact with others, and DEFINITELY NOT the swimming teacher you want for your child. Imagine the "deer-in-the-headlights-look" every time you said that student's name. It's been hard . . .
For today's potluck dinner, this student brought macaroni and cheese in a crock pot. Our biggest fear? That when the other students' found out who had brought what, they would skip the mac 'n cheese because not only was this student PAINFULLY awkward, this student was also overweight with a different speech pattern and just plain WEIRD.
I am thankful for all the students who tried the mac 'n cheese, for all the students who went back for seconds, and for the young man who said, "This is really good. Who made it?" I am thankful, that while they may not have shown maturity in the pool, this one time when it was most needed to encourage another, they showed it!
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