Joy

I feel this compression of all the things.  I crave margins and Enough Time and feeling in control and here I am with deadlines looming.  Worse, they're deadlines I can't start yet.  I can't move my classroom yet.  I can't start at WGU yet.  It's just all around the bend.

In the meantime, school has felt joyful.

I love when they tell me jokes.

Yesterday a super sassy girl said, "Teacher, what do you get when you cross a know it all with a bear?"

I said, "I don't know, what?"

She said, "Pan-duh!"  Her delivery was just perfect and it cracked me up.

Once I laugh at one person's joke, they all want to share one.  This one also delighted me.

Student: Do you know who is possessed by owls!

Me: Who?

Student: (silently pointing at me)

We have Orem policemen come and read to the third grade several times during the school year.  It is thrilling because they are wearing real guns and have walkie talkies and tasers and handcuffs.  They're also really kind.

Last week was their last time in the school year and they brought a box of books for the students, one for everyone.

This highly trained and armed to the hilt police officer looked at me helplessly and asked, "I don't know how we should pass these books out.  They're all different."

At least he knew not to just open the box and let 60+ kids fight it out.

I said, "We'll take the box and figure it out."

After school, my team and I lay all the books on my table and picked them for our students, which was fun.  Yesterday I distributed them to my class and told them why I had picked a particular book just for them.  80% of them were thrilled with my choices and the other 20% weren't that impressed.  I did my best.  They were so grateful though!  They kept thanking me and I kept reminding them they were from the police, not me.  

They're such sweet kids.

My very dear boy who often just comes up to me and asks if there's anything he can do to help me, walked up randomly to me yesterday with outstretched arms.  I said, "What are we doing?" and he threw his arms around me.

He said, "We're hugging."

Maybe they're feeling as sad about the end of the school year as I am.