Sweet Aunt Nancy

My Aunt Nancy may never know how truly special she is to me. I know she is special to a lot of people, but I want to share why she is such a special person. Aunt Nancy is 80 years old, exactly twice my age. She has been around ever since I was born!

From as far back as I can remember, Aunt Nancy has taken the place of a grandparent in my mind. She bought me my very first bike (new and not a hand me down!). I am getting side tracked. Buying me things is not why she is special to me!

Aunt Nancy and her former husband, Uncle Stan, know the value of work. When I was about 10 I started doing chores for them when I went over to their house, and they would pay me a fair price for my labor, although I think they stuck in a few extra bucks just for me! I remember vividly scraping paint on their porch and painting it again. I think they had their porch scraped and painted twice a year. Once by me and my sisters, and once by our cousins, just so they could teach us principles of hard work and earning a living. They also paid us for mowing the lawn, which I think may have been mowed every day of the summer for all I know! They taught me to operate a riding lawn mower by the time I was 12, and I really enjoyed that. I also raked a lot of twigs and leaves around the yard.

Aunt Nancy is also special because she always stocked her refrigerator with cheese and sodas, and her cabinets with twinkies so we would always have a treat to eat when we visited. She is a very generous lady and always thinks the best about everyone (well, almost everyone!). She gives, and gives, and gives and doesn't ask for much in return.

Aunt Nancy is a great crocheter (if that is a word). She gave me an afghan when I was younger that I will always treasure. I hope that when Aunt Nancy leaves this earth, I can be as special to someone else as she is to me.

"Thanks for Listening"

I didn't start thinking about my thanksgiving list much until after Thanksgiving Day this year. In my head I kept thinking, "I need to sit down and write a list of everything this year that I am thankful for." My thoughts didn't make it past my head and onto paper, or in this case, the computer. So, I am writing it now. I have already mentioned in previous blogs that this is one of my toughest years ever as a school counselor. There is much happening in the lives of people, families, kids, and the world.
I actually came back to school on Monday a little melancholy, thinking as I was supervising in the loud, boisterous cafeteria, that maybe I wasn't cut out to be a middle school counselor. Maybe I should think about doing something else in the near future. It just seemed like middle school kids get annoying with their pestering habits, and was I really making ANY difference with ANY of them?
Well, funny thing. About as soon as I got back to my office from lunch, a student came in and asked to speak with me. It was a boy, and boys rarely take any initiative in even getting close to the guidance counselor's office unless sent for. We talked, and I found out some interesting things about this student, and discovered he was carrying a heavy load of worry in his mind about his family. The next day, he came back again, and I was pretty shocked that he would want to come back and talk to me 2 days in a row! He wasn't a behavior problem at all, he wasn't falling apart, he just needed to talk. As he left, I said, "Thanks for coming and sharing with me. I'm sure that took a lot of courage. Sometimes it's good to get things off your chest." And he said, "Thanks for listening." Wow, thank you Lord for giving me a middle schooler to talk to right when I thought I wasn't needed! So, my Thanksgiving list? 1. Middle School students who need someone to listen to them.