Another School Year Completed

Children all over Orange County are celebrating the fact that today marks the end of another school year. 2008-2009 is officially in the record books. Last night I attended the "Night of Excellence" at my daughter's school. Aftewards at the reception I was thanking one of her teachers when he responded to me by saying, "No, thank you for sending us great students." Of course I like to hear that kind of a thing as a father, but I was especially struck by the fact that my thanks was returned with his gratitude. All of this got me to thinking. I want to stop and give thanks to God for bringing the school year to completion. Here are a few of things I'm thankful for:

• Teachers who invest themselves in their students and for whom teaching is more than just a job, but a calling. The world could use more people with such a passion. I admire you.
• Wisdom gained, achievements accomplished, challenges met and lessons learned.
• Parents, community members and volunteers who give of themselves to enhance our schools.
• Principals, administrators and staff who lead our schools in both good times and bad. Something tells me that many of their countless hours are spent problem solving and managing people who aren't always happy.
• Our school board members who even though I don't agree with them some of the time are willing to step up to the plate and serve our community in what is quite often a thankless job.

This isn't to say that I don't have a list of complaints about things that happened this past school year because I do. I will not take the time to detail them for you. I don't think there would be much value in sharing them. Besides once I list the things I'm grateful for it has a way of making my complaints seem much smaller than they did before I began writing this blog post.

What about you? Anything you are grateful for that you want to take the time to acknowledge? Post a comment.