Miss Blessing. Never once have I been anything but thrilled to have this name, for all the jokes are kind ones like, “Whoever marries you will get a blessing”, or, “Your parents must think you are a blessing.” But jokes aside, I am truly blessed, and every day my heart sings a song of gratitude.
My name brings deep family roots with it. My great grandparents survived the Depression after arriving from Germany by running a little bakery in a small New Jersey town. Great Grandpa turned to fruit farming when, as you can imagine, giving away bread to anyone who was hungry didn’t work too well for the business. Dad always said that not even a passing stranger left our family farm hungry. My family has always modeled sharing with generosity, and I am blessed.
The tale goes that Grandpa was the only one left to help out on the farm when his older brothers and sisters went off to college. He used to stop his plow as he passed the schoolhouse and peek in the window to hear part of the lesson before continuing around the field. While he only completed his eighth grade education, he urged every one of his children and grandchildren to dedicate themselves to the pursuit of learning. Our family is now mainly teachers and doctors with a sprinkling of business leaders, all hoping to make the world a better place, all hungering to know more. Lifelong learning as a core value has blessed me every day.
From funny songs on the porch to a meal filled with puns, laughter accompanies my family everywhere. During Dad’s battle with cancer, we handled many dark days by laughing together. Who would not be blessed by the gift of laughter?
Grandpa and Grandma worked with me. Dad and Mama worked with me. Being responsible for chores and working until the job is done even when you get tired aren’t the usual blessings you’d eagerly count. There is such satisfaction in loving your job, though, and in working alongside others. I cannot wait to start teaching each day. Hard work has been a blessing in my life.
Miss Blessing. I have always loved my name. Hopefully, hearing it each day will constantly remind me to live with the gratitude that should accompany such a flood of blessings.
What an amazing way to describe your name! We are blessed to have you working with our students at DES! I have a call over to DES to make sure that our summer academic program is reading your blog and providing comments back. Hope that helps with your writing and discussions. Take care and I am thinking of you often–can’t wait to hear and learn from you. It sounds like you are having an amazing opportunity.
Your name always says it all and I have to agree that we and many more students are going to be blessed as they walk through the door of Miss Blessings room!!
All of us would like to thank you for writing to us. What an amazing life you have. Was it really fun when you were a little kid doing your chores? You are a good teacher to share all of this with us! You ROCK!
DES students,
Thank YOU for writing back! I love hearing what is on your minds.
I am having an amazing time learning more about writing. It sounds like you are having quite the fine time in summer school. I read your newsletter last week to find out more about your field trip. I will write a post soon with some of my questions about what YOU are learning.
I don’t think my chores seemed super fun when I was your age, but I’m really glad I had responsibility like that. It helped me learn to be a good worker. We always did what we could to make the chores fun though, whether it was enjoying music while we did the dishes or playing games while we fed the animals. What chores do you have? I had quite a few, like weeding the garden and stacking the wood for winter.
You ROCK too!