When in a room of eager minds, it's difficult to maintain a slow, sour mood.

On this Thankful Thursday, I am thankful for Happy Hour for Young Readers & Writers.

This week, I spent afternoons at Seashore Family Literacy, reading, writing and creating with students ages 10 to 14.

In the pursuit of poems and stories, we collected words, roamed rooms, examined names, and played poetry poker. We suspended sense and rules. We stretched our bodies, our minds, our ideas. We kept the pen moving. We learned how to listen, and the art of response. We wrote letters to spring, to winter, to memory and friends. We wrote odes to hot dogs, and penned lively adventures. And when our journals were finally thick with words, we chose our best work and learned to refine.

Will you give us homework, they asked, please?

Can I read my poem next?

Will you come back?

Yes, yes, and yes.

On This Thankful Thursday, I am thankful for youngsters whose enthusiasm for writing restores my own.

It's Thankful Thursday, a weekly pause of gratitude for people, places and things. What are you thankful for today?