Day 2 – A Person

I thought on this one a lot. I’m thankful for a lot of people. Ben. My children. My mom. My sister. Her children. My late sister’s daughter. My son-in-law and future daughter-in-law. Ben’s parents’ Ben’s brother and sister, and his brother-in-law. And then there’s aunts and uncles and cousins and friends…

I thought I’d just pick Ben, and I am incredibly grateful for him. I’m not sure that’s the one I want to write about today though.

I then thought about Jesus, who is a person as well, but although I am also so very grateful for Him, that’s not quite what I wanted to write either. I mean…obviously I am grateful to Jesus. And also to Ben. But who to pick then? If I go with a close friend or relative, then I would feel like I was dissing the others.

And then I decided that I wanted to express my gratefulness to Michelle. I’m not going to put her last name because I haven’t asked her permission, but Michelle is in charge of our homeschool group. Michelle was running things when we first started homeschooling. We went as a group and found fossils in southern Oklahoma. Her daughter was much older than little Lenora, but she took her under her wing that day and was so sweet to her. I’ll never forget that. Lenora was so, so impressed with her daughter and instead of acting like the little person was an annoyance, she acted like she enjoyed every minute.

Michelle has been the glue that has held our group together. I wondered what would happen as her children all graduated from school – who could take her place? But then, she just continued. Through illness and other difficulties, she came back and ran our co-op once again after her youngest was finished. And now, her oldest grandchild is homeschooling, and is there at the co-op on Tuesdays. I don’t know if Michelle will ever stop. She is such a gift to our local homeschool community.

Michelle is smart, she’s sarcastic, she’s efficient, she’s organized. She’s great at leading others. She sees your skills and gets you plugged in where you can help and feel like you’re contributing. She somehow remembers everyone’s name. I can’t remember the names of people I’ve homeschooled with for years. I don’t know which kid goes with which parent, and I never remember anyone’s difficulties, trials, or victories. Michelle does. She is the very best kind of leader.

Without Michelle, I do not believe our organization would have even survived, much less thrived. I owe my children’s homeschooling journey in part to her. I honestly do not know if we would have made it without her. I’m not good at explaining it, I guess, but she’s so important, you guys. I don’t even know if she knows it. But she is.

When Marissa died, Michelle gave me a wall hanging that says “We do not remember days, we remember moments.” I still have it on my bedroom wall, above my mirror. It’s so true. I don’t remember every day, but I do remember special moments through our homeschooling years, and there are a lot of memories with Michelle. She has made such a difference in my life and in my children’s lives. She is truly a blessing for God in our lives.

I cannot ever thank her enough. But I am grateful. So very grateful.

Thank you, Michelle.