This was an email I sent to my colleagues at school, I thought it was appropriate to post.

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This time of year is always one when we stop to give thanks, and truth be told, I am usually most happy about the time we have off and give thanks for the time to refresh and recharge.  While that is important, this year I have been reminded in a very painful way that life is fleeting and much too short.  We have much to be thankful for, wherever and whomever we are.

The economy is bad, job losses are coming at SJ, things in Washington are tenuous and of course we have to write those darn content and language objectives (ha, ha).  But in the midst of all this, we truly have much to be thankful for.  A beautiful school in which to teach, colleagues that are professional, caring, enthusiastic and dedicated to their task to teach and impact young lives. Administration that allows us to teach the kids the way we deem most effective and more importantly affective.  And of course we have students who daily drive us to distraction, frustration, anger, fear, worry, joy, laughter, amazement, and complete surprise at some of the things the say and do, they are always, if nothing else, a source of endless energy.

Almost all of us are blessed with family as well, and they probably evoke the same sort of feelings in us as our students do, but it is in family and friends where we find our most satisfying place in this world.  I was reminded of that on Monday as I lost my beautiful brother.  I wish I would have been in closer contact with him, wish I would have called him one last time, wished . . . you fill in the blank, chances are good you have felt the same way about someone close to you.

On Friday I am going to head North to Denver, Colorado and bury a man that died much too early for me.  We will say nice things about him, praise him, mourn his loss, grieve deeply, cry, ask God why and I hope we will laugh as we remember our times together.  My only wish was that I would have done this last year, or the year before when he was still able to hear my voice and see the love in my eyes.  But I didn’t, I am thankful for the time I had, but how I wish I would have been more thankful while he was with us.

Don’t miss an opportunity to love those God has placed in your lives this Thanksgiving; eat well this thanksgiving, but soak up the love of each other! That is what we have to be truly thankful for! And if you don’t have someone, find someone who needs you, there so many out there who would love to be “adopted” just like Rick was.

Missy and I want to say thanks so much for all of the kind comments in the hallway, emails and of course your prayers, it has meant so much.  There has been a memorial site set up for Rick, www.rickcourchene.com check it out if you have time, thanks again and on behalf of the Freese family, have a Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving.

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Sometimes being a dad requires a multitude of skills, abilities and modalities.  Tonight those skills needed to include”snail hunting” to be a complete dad.  Tori, my three-year old told me tonight was perfect for finding or hunting snails.  Indeed it has been raining for a few days in our dry climate of West Texas and with the rain come, at least at our house, the snails.

Now I was busy getting ready for a trip to Bryan, Texas tomorrow, but the allure of a three year-old with love in her eyes is too much for this daddy.  I succumbed to her charm and headed out the front door to find snails.  And I am so glad I did.

The most cherished moments in life come not from not from the scripted, expensive and complicated plans we adults foist upon ourselves, but from the moments when we are just who we are: moms, dads, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, friends, neighbors or whatever title you have in you life.

Tori with her snails

These pictures do indeed tell a story of a thousand words.  Take a moment tonight or whenever you get the oppourtunity and go “snail hunting” you won’t regret it! Thanks Tori and I love you too!

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Freese Cousins at Phoenix Zoo July 2009

Just got back from vacation in Phoenix with family last weekend.  We had such a great time, we were busy, but not too busy.  We got to see everyone and everyone got to see us, it was wonderful!  We really enjoyed ourselves.  The weather was so hot, but we didn’t seem to mind too much, my only complaint was I didn’t get to do any golfing, maybe next time. In the meantime check out some of our photos by clicking here.

We left on July 5th had a great time in Tucson with my sister and then headed up to Phoenix for the week, and boy did I mention it was hot?  Around 112 degrees everyday.  I used to live there, but not sure how I did it.  The traffic is awful too, but it is such a beautiful place to live, in DECEMBER.

We celebrated my my son’s 17th birthday and my daughter’s 16th with friends and family.  I think it is great the kids want to do that for their birthdays.   It has been a tradition for years in our family to have, as we say in Texas: big doings.  Some years we visited a resort with a waterpark, other years we did just did parties and/or dinners, but always with family.

Tradition is important, it builds into the fabric of family something to be counted on, looked forward to and experienced with joy.  The beauty of our hot vacations are, they become more than vacations and in fact, almost become more important the event itself.  Take time to do vacations or should I say, create and live a tradition.  We do and even though it happens in a rather hot and crowded environment, who cares, we are with people we love and on that is which we most enjoy. Check out some of our photos here.

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I took Tori to our duck pond, but the ducks didn’t like us as much as she liked them.

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This is Tori jumping on the trampoline, isn’t she cute?

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