on this special day
i brought out
an old treasured story
written by
my former student, nicole
who i taught for grades k-2
(in a school where we were known by our first names)
a story about me sharing stories
made me cry happy tears to read
how much she enjoyed the stories
what ginormous heaps of praise
from a fellow roald dahl fan.
—
happy roald dahl story day!!
—
“words are our most inexhaustible source of magic.”
-albus dumbledore (j.k. rowling, harry potter series)
like a turtle with its shell
carrying it wherever they go
a sure sign
it’s move-in weekend at the uni.
—
“the sweetest part of leaving home is knowing,
beyond the shadow of a doubt,
that you’ll always carry it with you.”
-homestratosphere
today is the first day back at school
i imagine the kinder calmly gliding into nature with me
all possibilities are on the table
could be more like the picture below
most likely will fall somewhere in between.
“today is a most unusual day, because we have never lived it before; we will never live it again; it is the only day we have.”
-william arthur ward
—
photo credits: vintage pinterest, gamma-keystone london
a little girl
who was once my student
and still a friend of mine
opened up a treasure chest
to show me
one piece of clothing after another
that she created all on her own
after teaching herself to sew
and I couldn’t be more proud.
cold, morning rain does little but make one anxious to reach their destination, even if that is work or school. this innovative student solved the problem of hands free walking on one such campus morning in 1969. “U-M engineering student gary keck of detroit is too unconventional to raise an umbrella. he wards off the morning rain with a stylish sombrero. ole!”
—
“optimists are neither in denial nor naïve about challenges and difficulties in life.
they simply attend to and acknowledge the positive.”
– eric kim
—
credits: oldnews.aadl.org, ann arbor townies
(translation):
miss kennedy you are invited to my birthday party.
—
she worked very hard on this
for such a long time
what an effort this took to create
asking me
how to spell each word
letter by letter
putting it in an envelope
sealing it
giving it to me to open and read
causing
big smiles on both sides.
and
i don’t know that it’s even her birthday.
—-
“effort only fully releases its reward
after a person refuses to quit.”
-napoleon hill
every time
i see a parking meter
i think back
to my days
in grad school
it was a frenzied time
driving
everywhere
running
to classes
day and night
not sleeping much
running
to substitute teach
running
to student teach
running
to cater
running
to family events
running
to drive my daughter
back to college
ironically
we were university rivals
running
to interviews
and all that jazz
and
no money
and
no time
and so
parking
was not
on the radar
i was
always looking for a spot
close to class
in a hurry
playing the odds
parking
with construction crews
or
at almost expired meters
or
halfway in and halfway out
of legal street spots
and
tickets were piling up
until
one day
i came out
in between classes
and
my car was gone
i called the police
they said they had it
but
i had to
pay off all of my tickets
plus the new one
they had given me
before they towed it
to get it back
they had reached
their tipping point
i walked to the station
and got in line
with about 200 thousand or so
other students
paying off tickets
i waited patiently
i planned
when it was my turn
to tell them
that
i was a single mother
working 2 jobs
going to school
trying to balance everything
with no money
and
that i was doing all this
to follow my dream
and i hoped
they would grant me
compassionate dreamer’s amnesty
and call it even
but instead
they said
we’ll need 450$
cash or certified check
which seemed like a fortune
and so
i called my daughters
to come to the station
and
pick me up
and
take me
to ransom
my car back
and
this meant
ramen noodles
would be back too
and
my amnesty bubble was popped
but my dream was still intact
===
i was complimented on my driving today.
someone left a note on my windshield that said, ‘parking fine’
– author unknown
–
image credits: annarbor.com, neatorama.com, wsj.com
s, age 4, has taught himself to read. here, he has a teaching moment, when he reads a challenging non-fiction book, about the amazing story of two unlikely animals who became the best of friends. the animals were drawn together, through circumstance and fate, and each found what they needed in the other, becoming somehow better, and changed forever, by being together. as s reads aloud to his classmates, they begin to understand this, and learn that all things are possible.
“Teachers have three loves: love of learning, love of learners, and the love of bringing the first two loves together.”- Scott Hayden
—–
* title quote credit: a saying, alternately attributed to Buddha Siddhartha Guatama Shakyamuni and the Theosophists.
I didn't have my glasses on.... 