Yesterday was a pretty horrible day for me as I woke up to the news that after a long and painful battle with cancer my mentor and someone I had looked to as a father figure passed. Federico was headmaster at the school I taught at in Japan. He was also someone who believed in me and my skills as a teacher. When Federico took me on I was very green to the field. He gave me my big break in teaching with a crash course in curriculum development. He was a great mentor and gave me the confidence that I had been lacking for so long.
A few years ago Federico called me into his office...we often chatted after school about the kids, curriculum and the events happening in the world at the time. He loved politics(a man after my own heart)…and being born into Franco’s Fascist Spain he appreciated my liberal ideals and the fact that I found so much fault with the social injustices of the Bush Administration. He also had excellent taste in music. At any given time you could walk into his office and hear playing in the background REM or Pink Floyd to Vivaldi or Chopin and you could not help but love him. On this particular day he told me about the cancer and that it was spreading rapidly. I was devastated.
We hung out all the time. He tried, on a few occasions, to teach me how to make paella. He was very patient. He let me into his kitchen and I let him into my heart. I will forever be grateful for his friendship, his cooking and his passion for teaching. The world was a little more bearable with him in it.
So this is what I am thankful for today and everyday: Good family and good friends. The fact that my son and husband are healthy and appreciate my sub par cooking. I am thankful for the family I seldom see but that I love and appreciate in more ways than I can put into words. I am thankful to my Aunt who sends my son a card for every holiday under the sun. My son’s God Mommy who has come twice half way around the world just to see him. I appreciate how my son looks forward to birthday parties and Christmas. I appreciate that he believes in Santa and I am hoping we have at least another few years of magic and wonder at Christmas. I am thankful for the friends that I’d not seen in years who hugged me at the reunion and who promised to keep in touch but life happens. I am thankful for the friends I’ve known for what seems like thousands of years but thanks to facebook I can see them in a new light with their talents on display. I appreciate the friend I met at TJMaxx in New Jersey, both of us in the linen section, with our newborn baby’s in tow, a friendship that has lasted even though we have not see each other in a very long time. I appreciate my beautiful friend Ruth whom I would trust with my life. I appreciate Summer and how a room can light up with just her presence. I appreciate the friend who thought of me as a total dweeb when she fist met me in Dr. Powell's Theory class but ended up becoming one of my dearest friends. I appreciate the freshness a newborn baby has brought to a friend and how she is learning that the love you have for your child is unlike any love you have ever known. I appreciate the friend I’ve known for a very very long time who befrinded me in the middle of our senior year of high school, the one I hurt with disparaging words early on this past summer...one of the few regrets I will carry with me. I appreciate that just because one scholars in a particular subject does not automatically translate to excellence in the craft itself. So while I have a Masters in communication, I am not fluent. I will always make mistakes. I just hope the people I appreciate can appreciate that.
