do you realize what you're holding in your hand...

your life. so precious. breathe in. breathe out.

there. your lungs are working. your heart is beating.

you have everything you need in life. just that.

today i spent my day working with a group of about

200 seventh graders. we did a whole big CIVIL WAR

project together. i never in my wildest imagination

thought that i would ever do what i did today.

it's my job. it's my passion. i watched those beautiful

young people...happy, cranky, some with a

"what in the hell are they making me do this for"

look on their face. but most of them just free...

living in the moment. at the end of the day i

phoned my son nick who is away (oh so far

away at college in kenosha - CARTHAGE COLLEGE

ROCKS-and he says to me"...mom, today i found

out that one of my new heroes, mark herzlich, star

line backer at boston college has cancer. talk about

perspective mom. it's hitting me in the face." you see,

nick lost his buddy ERIC, age 20, one of his lacrosse team mates

from high school, to cancer just a few short months ago.

ERIC died of hodgkin's disease. 20 years old.

can you imagine? this young man nick

spoke of today, mark, has ewing's sarcoma.

i'm rambling, this i know.

but for my son, who is just about to enter his junior

year at college and has decided to pursue the most

noble of professions - teaching (and coaching) as his

life's aspiration, these are the most important sad and

sorry lessons that life teaches. right now our family

is going through a transition. my husband is about

to lose his job (of over 25 years). and my hubby and i?

we're elated. we're grateful, happy, anxious, curious...

ready for what life will bring us. it's our responsibility to

teach our children how to handle, how to deal, how to

appreciate and fall in love with every day that we're blessed

with - regardless of how tough the challenge. my son said to me

"mom, with what dad's going through and all? what really

matters is that you have each day. you have your life

and the opportunity to choose how each day will go.

that's all that matters. it's not about money or all that

shit. it's about living your life."

wise words.

take today...grab it.

grab the shit out of it.

today i laughed from the depths of my heart

watching these wacky, wonderful, silly seventh graders,

the teachers who give their all to them,

the moms who stepped in to serve them lunch and be there with them

(it was awesome...pizza, chips, pop, and i supplied the cookies:)

and my presenters, who gave their day to these kids.

people are wonderful. life is rich.

and we are blessed that we can...

breathe in, breathe out

and thank the heavens for the blessing of pure existence.

with so much love...

-t.

p.s. forgive the grammatical errors. after a day like this i'm too pooped for perfect punctuation.