Thankful Me

  A small frog rests inside a child's cupped hands It's only the end of July. When I was a child, July was the middle month of summer, but my grandchildren start school on August 12th, so (even though the temperatures are by no means autumn-like) the end of July signals waning summer fun. While the grandchildren have been out of school, I've tried to pack in activities and experiences to broaden their horizons and introduce them to fun that doesn't involve little (or big!) screens. Some activities involved all of the grandchildren at once. Other times, I would take an individual grandchild on an outing catered to his or her interests. Each grandchild had a chance to stay overnight at our house then we went on an adventure together the next day. Friday night we completed the final sleepover, or rather, all of the grandchildren have now had a turn. They are already asking about "next time."  I'm thankful: 1. for summer library programs. My grandchildren have

  Black and white photo taken in the 1930s shows an extended family standing and smiling at the camera From as early as I can remember, "going to the family reunion" meant driving to the mountains in Oregon and having a picnic with my parents, siblings, grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins. I didn't necessarily know exactly how everyone was related, but we each could find our name on Uncle George's chart, so that meant we were all family.  George and Dorothy stand in front of the family tree chart As (I hope) you can tell from the photo at the top of this post, the Telfer family reunion started well before I was born. That cute little boy second from the left at the bottom of that photo? None other than Uncle George. George kept the reunion going for decades, but sometime (I believe in the years just prior to his death in 2009) the annual gathering fizzled away.  Last year, one of my third cousins decided we needed to start the reunions again, and so we did. Attend

Yellow lab Drexel, wearing his booties, walks on a leash down a sidewalk After months of almost always working 6-day weeks, John has taken time off the past two weekends and we've made some great road trips. Last weekend we witnessed the culmination of years of hard work by our oldest son, as we watched him graduate from his medical residency program. I'm so proud of him, not only because he achieved his goal, but also because he has a compassionate soul. Although he will be joining a private practice, he will also be regularly showing up at soup kitchens to provide medical care to those who are living on the streets. That street medicine program is one that he enjoyed participating in during his residency and he is so excited to continue.  1. I'm thankful we could celebrate with our son and that some of our other children could also attend the festivities. I love spending time with my family. Although we have been very fortunate to have competent, reliable dog sitters for