Day One

Thirty Days of Thanksgiving: Day One

Today I am thankful that I have had the opportunity to return to school. School has been one of the biggest causes of stress in my life during the past two years, and depending on what the future holds, I have at least two more years of this ahead of me. I am still grateful for it every single day. Going to school allows me the chance to make a better life for my children. It gives me a chance to give them the things that my parents couldn't give me.

Growing up, we didn't have a lot of money. When I was eleven years old, my Dad was in an accident. He was an over the road truck driver, and some idiot wasted on drugs and alcohol cut him off while he was driving. The idiot walked away without a scratch. In fact, he was so wasted that he tried to drive away from the scene.... not because he was running, but because he didn't even realize that he had been in an accident. Dad never worked another day in his life. My mom had just found out she was pregnant when my Dad had his accident. My brother was born seven months after the accident. My Dad could not physically work anymore, and he also could not take care of the baby. That meant my mom could not work either. There wasn't much money.

While I didn't have the best childhood (mostly because of the lack of money), I didn't have a terrible childhood either. It taught me to appreciate the little things that I did have. It taught me to work hard for what I wanted and to be grateful for the things I did get. I got a job through the local dance studio and was able to earn free dance lessons for me and my sister that way. I babysat and did odd jobs around the neighborhood to earn spending money, and I appreciated it more because it wasn't just handed to me. 

At the same time, because of the financial situation, there was a lot of things that I wanted to do that just wasn't possible. My freshman class took a trip to Washington D.C. I really wanted to go on that trip, but I knew that there way no way my parents could come up with the money, so I stayed behind while pretty much everyone in our class went. To this day, I have still never been to D.C. We didn't get to take family vacations either. Once in a while we would drive an hour or so to the lake where my Great-Grandma had her camper. We we spend a week there during the summer, fishing and playing card games or whatever. One year my Uncle moved to Myrtle Beach. We did get to go down that first summer and see them. We spent a few days with them and going to the beach, but as far as taking a real vacation and staying in a hotel or at a resort or something...... that never happened.

Those are the kinds of things I want to give my children! I want to be able to travel with them and take them on unforgettable vacations. I want to be able to buy them a car when they get their licenses. I want to be able to buy my daughter a fancy dress for the prom. I don't want then to feel like they can't ask for something they really want. Going to school will make it possible to eventually do those things with and for my kids. It will allow me to travel and do all the things that I have always wanted to do but have never been able to do in the past. For that reason, no matter how stressful it gets, I will always be thankful that I was able to go back to school and make a better life for my family.