What I’m Grateful For

   Welp. Here we go again. You can’t see it, but I’m rolling my eyes right now. Why? Because it’s time once again to write the yearly essay of “What I’m Grateful For”, and then have my teacher paste the Quality Copy (not the Sloppy Copy! Never the Sloppy Copy!) to a piece of brightly colored construction paper, before hanging it on the classroom wall for Open House Night. It’s the same every year. Even now that I’m in 4th grade. Pretty much an adult. Or at least a teenager. 

     When I was in Kindergarten we didn’t have to write a Grateful Essay. We just had to “Hide a Turkey” for Open House night. We all got a picture of a turkey, and glued it to a piece of construction paper, then used our imaginations to hide it from becoming Thanksgiving Dinner. Katie Lennon hid hers behind about 500 rainbow colored feathers. Joey Paulson hid his behind a bunch of candy wrappers. He told me he ate all the candy himself to get the wrappers, and I believed him. That kid could eat! I hid mine behind a piece of aluminum foil I took from the garbage can in the cafeteria. It was still pretty clean, but I wiped it up in the bathroom first. I glued it over my turkey and told my teacher the turkey hid in a metal garbage can. She smiled at that, and told me I was very creative. 

But now I’m older, so I have to write essays. So. 

Here we go. Again. 

“What I’m Grateful For” by Henry Freedman

It is almost Thanksgiving and I have so much to be grateful for. I am very grateful to have a mom and dad. My mom loves to cook and makes the biggest best turkey you have ever seen in your whole life. She makes mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, stuffing, and carrots too. My brother eats so much he always tells me he is about to pop! Maybe this year he really will! But then we go outside and play catch with the football after we eat and I am grateful for that too. I can catch better than him but he doesn’t mind, even though he’s older. My little sister only eats the mashed potatoes. She puts so much gravy on them it looks like a big old bowl of gravy soup with a little white potato island in the middle. I’m grateful for my sister too, even though she always wants me to play dolls with her and I’m just not into dolls. I’m grateful for my dad too, because he makes our dessert which is pumpkin pie, then he puts on the football games and we make bets with each other who will win. He always picks the Eagles because it’s his favorite team. I pick the other team and we cheer and shout then the winner gets an extra piece of pie with as much whipped cream as he’d like! And all our cousins come over and my aunts and uncles. So I am grateful for my family and food and also my pet dog Rocky. Rocky is grateful for dropped turkey at the dinner table! 

     So there it is. My essay. It will be up on the wall and the other kids and their parents will read it and smile at it, so my job is done. My teacher will say, “Henry, that sounds wonderful! What a great essay!” 

     I will nod and smile, say, “Gosh, thanks Mrs. Webber!”

     But you know what? Here’s the essay I’d write if my teacher weren’t going to read it. And if it weren’t going up on the wall for Open House. It’d go something like this. 

“What I’m Grateful For” by Henry Freedman 

It is almost Thanksgiving and I am grateful for so many things. I am grateful that my mom ran out of vodka and doesn’t have the money to get more yet. That means she won’t be drunk for at least another week. But it also means she will be mean and sick and I won’t have clean clothes unless I wash everything myself. And last time I think I added too much soap and she got real mad. But at least she won’t be drunk for a week and pass out so I’m grateful for that. She doesn’t cook, and I’m actually grateful for that too. When she does, it usually turns out burned and one time a whole pan caught on fire on the stove because she fell asleep but I put it out. Then my dad got angry about it and opened a window and started yelling at my mom and the neighbors heard because the window was open so I closed it. Even though it still smelled like smoke. I’m grateful my neighbors didn’t call the cops again. My brother would have talked to them though if the neighbors called the cops. I’m grateful he always knows what to say to them because I sure don’t. 

I’m grateful that my dad leaves for weeks at a time because when he’s gone he doesn’t scream at all of us and blame us for everything. I’m grateful when he does have a job but he hasn’t had one in a lot of years. He tells us he is looking for a job but I don’t know if he is. He gets angry a lot so maybe that’s why nobody wants him to work for them. 

I’m also grateful that I can make the best jelly sandwiches for my little sister. I even remember to cut the mold off the bread before I give it to her so she never knows it was even there. I’m grateful that the gas station has little jelly packets in their bagel section that you can just take. Well, I think you’re supposed to buy a bagel first but the guy at the counter never says anything when I take a few. Just three will make a decent sandwich. I’m grateful the guy at the gas station lets me take the jelly. 

And finally I’m grateful for school. I know, I know, what kid is ever grateful for school? But I am. Because I know when me and my brother and sister are at school nobody yells at us. We can eat lunch because we get it free. And it’s warm in the winter. So those are the things I’m grateful and thankful for this Thanksgiving. 

     But I never turn that one in. That one stays in my head. And it isn’t like the essay I write and turn in is all lies. It’s what I’d be thankful for if I had all those things. And if Thanksgiving were like I wanted it to be. And someday I’m going to have Thanksgivings like that. I’ll make sure of that. And I’ll have a dog someday that I’ll name Rocky. So, you see, it’s not all lies because it’s going to happen someday. I’m in 4th grade now. Practically an adult.