Fifty Days of Gratitude: Day Four

I recently mentioned this story in a Lenten reflection, but it's been on my mind lately. When I was in third grade, our teacher, Mrs. Nalls, would pull up a stool when we returned from lunch and invite us all to lay our heads on our desks; she'd open up a thermos of iced tea and the latest chapter book we were hearing her read as a class and for that time each day, we could collectively go somewhere else. With Pippi Longstocking on adventures, or to solve a mystery with the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew.

It wasn't until much later (okay, maybe sometime this year) that it occurred to me that she knew that some of us would enjoy the actual book, but that many of us would need the break from the intensity that was third grade. The timed multiplication tests, the playground drama, the spelling words, and the inevitable burgeoning bully. It was a lot when you hadn't even lived for a decade yet.

Yesterday my thanksgiving was for the places where we can step away from life for the rest or renewal or re-set we need. Today piggy-backs off of that a bit, only today I'm grateful for the people who make the space for that to happen. I watch my grand girl's parents switch up to give each other just a few minutes alone. And we help provide those times as often as we can. I watch my daughter know and trust herself well enough to step away when she needs to. I watch my first-born as he puts on his running shoes to go for a run - finding that space where our bodies create the room our minds and spirits need.

I'm thankful for all of that, but today I want to name Mrs. Nalls, from Sunset Hills Elementary School in Pekin, Illinois. Thank you, Mrs. Nalls, for letting us lay our heads on our desk and our worries aside for those precious few moments every day.