I'm thankful for the teenage boy who glared, folded his arms, and sneered, "I hate poetry."

You were a dust storm that cleared the room.

With your announcement, we paused and I admitted that sometimes I disliked poetry too. Like you, I get frustrated and annoyed when I "don't get what it means."

So we skipped the sappy poems, the "deep" poems, the long poems, the classic and kiddie poems. Instead, we read a poem about pimples, and giggled with delighted ewwws.

And you said, "We can write about stuff like that?"

And I said, "Yes, please!"

And so we wrote — about mud and hunting, about grilled cheese and green trees, about absent dads and close friends. The room hushed and we didn't worry if we were writing "poems." We just wrote for real.

It's Thankful Thursday. Please join me in a weekly pause to express appreciation for people, places, things and more. Joy contracts and expands in relation to our gratitude. What are you thankful for today?