It's November which traditionally is the month of giving thanks and being grateful. All sorts of people have been posting on social media and blogging about what they're thankful for. To no one's surprise, I'm also going to blog about what I'm grateful for. This year, what I'm grateful for is being able to change my mindset, whether it's dealing with my classroom, education, my relationships, or what's going on at that moment.
An excellent example of this was last Friday. I know how long it takes to get to work. I've been driving the same route for six years since we moved into our house. I give myself 15 minutes to get to work every day, and this day was no exception. What I did not anticipate was the incredibly thick fog. Whenever the weather is crazy, drivers either drive fifteen miles per hour over the speed limit or under. There is no in between. So I was dealing with stressful traffic, managed to hit ALL seven red lights on the way, and almost got into an accident. Another car and I were both (admittedly) "bombing" down a hill to try to make a green light. This other car was in the far right lane, and I was in the far left lane. The light turned yellow, and we both sped up when this other car switched over two lanes and cut me off. I had to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting them and ended up missing the light.
While I'm sitting at the red light, I check the clock and realize I'm now late to morning duty. All of that made me start to cry. On a FRIDAY. At a red light. When I finally got to school, I walk in, and a colleague is in there waiting for me. She joins me on Fridays only to help with breakfast duty. We started talking about the weather and traffic because her commute was not great that morning either. She asked me where I lived and then asked when we bought the house. Right now the housing market along the Front Range of Colorado is HOT. People are buying homes, sight unseen, for well over the market price. The last five people that I know of that sold their houses all sold within 48 hours or less, at asking price or more.
She asked if we bought before the housing market exploded and I told her that not only did we purchase in 2011, we used a federal program to get our house! Good Neighbor Next Door is a HUD program that provides housing assistance to public servants. It is a lottery for select homes in older or struggling neighborhoods. The person who "wins" the house in the lottery has two mortgages on the house, each at half the price of the home. The person can also do renovations which are wrapped up in the cost of the home. After three years, one of the mortgages goes away. The idea is that the person can not only afford the house but also revitalize it! This, in turn, helps the neighborhood.
So during breakfast duty, I'm explaining all of this to my colleague and she is blown away. She's never heard about this program and can't believe how lucky we were. Telling her this story made me realize how #blessed I really am. Even though I had a bad morning, she helped me change my mindset instead to how grateful and lucky I am. I thanked her for helping me have a better morning and she, in a surprised tone, told me "You're welcome."
The whole point of this blog is to not only be grateful for what you have and thankful for the people around you, but be sure to help support a colleague see the positive in their lives. Make this week, before Thanksgiving Break, a good one! Take a moment to see, and help others recognize, small moments of gratitude.
Thanks for reading. I'll see you next week :)
- Rachel
My Teacherspayteachers website
