Is Your Plate Too Full?

God did a favor for me today.  He made it snow.  It's been 17 days since my last post, and had the roads been clear enough to travel upon, it would have been another four days before I could write.  Thankfully, one of the many cancellations occurring today is a meeting that I was supposed to co-host.  While I was looking forward to seeing the presentation and my friends, it is actually a relief to get back that 9:30 to 3:30 time slot.  Do you ever say, "Yes" to things that you know you don't have time to do?  This was one of those things.  I looked at my calendar, shook my head, and said, "Well, I don't know.  I guess I could do it".  Now, like many previous posts, here I am writing about my lack of resolve to "just say no".  If you are finding yourself in the same boat, it's time to jump out.  The holidays are busy enough without taking on every job that's put on your plate of responsibilities.  Scrape some of them off, or say, "No thank you; I'm full".  Let's savor the moments ahead of us instead of gulping them down to make room for more.  If saying, "Yes," will hinder the flavor of what's already on your plate, remember to say, "No".  
It's never too late to change, no matter how many times you've tried.
   Today's sea glass picture is called, "New Perspective".  (I'm trying....)

Teaching Again

With clear blue eyes staring seriously into my much older green ones, an innocent first-grader told me, "We could spell "shit", but we're not supposed to say it".  I told him I was glad he knew the rules, and that we would have to think of some other words that say, "sh".   Our lesson on blending continued without skipping a beat, but inside, I was proud of myself for not cracking up with laughter over the little guy's comment!

In my new job as a Title One teacher, the goal is to provide students with extra reading and math activities in a quiet, small group setting, and sometimes, I get to meet with one student at a time.  After being retired, for seven years, from classroom teaching, I was excited to work with kids in a more peaceful environment, and they haven't let me down.  Each child comes with their own uniqueness.  Their bubbly dispositions and views of the world are refreshing.  Their smiles are heart-warming, and I feel as though I've found the fountain of youth. 

There are a number of things I could have written about today, but my mind kept coming back to how thankful I am to have been given another chance to be a teacher (and I had to share that story about "sh").  With that said, I look forward to teaching again on Monday, and to being forever young.

My beach glass photo was taken under water, causing bubbles to appear, thus, the title, "Bubbles".  It reminds me of the bubbly personalities of my students.