Today’s Month of Thanksgiving post is the winner of the “Who are you grateful for?” contest.
It was difficult choosing just one winner, but here are some reasons I chose Margaret Yang‘s ode to her daughter’s bus driver:

• Many people wrote about their family, and I’m delighted to see so many people holding up the love of their parents, siblings, spouse or children. But I’m not sure how you pick between a beautiful tribute to a husband and loving gratitude for a sister.
• By contrast, I liked that Margaret’s gratitude for her daughter’s bus driver is about someone she’s not related to and didn’t choose to have in her life. Fate could have put a different bus driver, one who shuttles the kids back and forth but little else, on that route. But Miss Penny does something special for Margaret and her daughter, and Margaret appreciates the difference Miss Penny makes.
• Margaret also wrote a compelling entry on the “What are you thankful for?” contest, and since I’m the judge, I awarded her a little bonus here for entering both.

Because of Margaret’s gratitude, Miss Penny will either get a Zingerman’s goodie basket or a flower arrangement, whichever Margaret chooses.
 

Here’s Margaret’s winning entry:
 

I am grateful for my daughter’s bus driver. School bus driver isn’t the most glamorous job, but Miss Penny has chosen to be the best driver she possibly can. Bus 99 arrives at the exact same time each day, no matter the weather or road conditions, with Disney Radio always coming through the speakers. You’d think that by now, all those Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus songs would have killed off a little piece of her heart, but Miss Penny is unfailingly cheerful, as happy on Monday mornings as she is on Friday afternoons. When my daughter was younger, Miss Penny added an extra morning stop right at the mouth of our cul-de-sac, so that my daughter and her (also very little) friend could wait in full view of their houses. I loved being able to stand at the window and watch until my daughter was safely on board.
Twice a day, five days a week, Miss Penny uses a rickety school bus to transport cargo so precious it should be in an armored truck. But with Miss Penny at the wheel, I know my child–and all the children–will be cherished every mile of the trip.