Unexpected

 You've got to keep them on their toes, unbalanced, not sure what you're going to do next.

That is the only way to survive third grade sometimes.

The last 5-10 minutes of every day is complete bedlam.  They are plugging in computers and stacking chairs so the room can get vacuumed.  I am distributing Clorox wipes and telling them not to do things like put a Clorox wipe on someone else's face.  I keep trying to keep everyone moving and usually about 5 kids do all the work and the rest are chasing each other (with Clorox wipes) or pressing their bodies against the door and not helping at all.

Yesterday the bell was going to ring in about three minutes and I told the five kids that do all the work to  clean up every day that they could leave.

Utter shock.

They gulped.  "Really?!?"  "The bell hasn't rung."

"Yep, you can go."

So then other kids wanted to know if they could go and I said, "No, you haven't been helping."  They dropped to their knees, picking up tiny pieces of trash.  The chairs got stacked, the computers were all plugged in, no one chased anyone.

Will this make any difference in the future?  It is anyone's guess.

That's their trick too.  They keep me guessing.

Last night, Adam was gone and Mark and I had dinner and went to our various floors.  The doorbell rang and it was my neighbor, Jen, with this:

They smell amazing.

She said, "It's too little too late, but I wanted to do something for you and I didn't have any ideas, so I finally brought you roses."

I think they are perfect.  She came in and sat down and we talked awhile.  We live in the same cul-de-sac and go to church and even YEN together, but we hadn't just talked, the two of us, for a while.  I enjoyed it.

Cancer keeps me guessing too.  You never know what unexpected blessing is just around the corner.