Today is day two of exploring 365 days of whimsical. Only a day has gone by since my first blog post and already life has continued to change. Originally, I had every intention of writing a blog post today that discussed the whimsical relationship of metaphors. In other words, the whimsy within the English language that can create such a feeling that a word or an image become something different, worth observing, worth sharing, worth multiplying. 

I will continue on with my intended "whimsy" experience until my words shift into an alternative perspective brought about by a turn of events in my day. In such a lesson as today, I had my third graders play a game where they were asked to write three words on a slip of paper. After placing it secretly in my can, we shook up the words and then the students, in partner pairs, selected just two. The point of the game was to embrace obscurity such that relationships between nouns were looked at in a way they are not normally looked at. Thinking outside of the box is still a skill we are developing within our classroom. Though there were certainly some obscure word pairs, many embraced the whimsy. 

One student, in particular just has the gift of depth. He isn't necessarily what a textbook would describe as "the highest reader" or the most "fluent reader" but his ability to look within the deep souls of words is remarkable. Two words were given today. One noun was the name of our new student. The second noun was the word "baseball." Somehow, this student managed to see the similarity between both words in a way that no one could. I was two seconds from changing the second noun, when out of the corner of my eye, I saw a tiny hand raised in the air. Without hesitation he announced: "Both are similar because they both have bases that allow them to travel to different places. (New Student's name) is from Mexico and his new home base is the United States. In baseball, you dont usually stay on the same base for the whole game. There are different bases at different moments in time that allow you to travel back home. I was stunned. Truly. To embrace whimsical from this perspective is to find meaning when meaning feels impossible. 

From this student's whimsy, I began thinking of how our past links with our present. I've always remembered the words "Your past does not define you." Perhaps not, but perhaps the past must define you in a way that allows for whimsy to occur. It is difficult to forget a past in which you are certain it has defined you somewhat as a person and allowed for a life of new magic. At 3:00 this afternoon I was informed of some news in which a base I had once left behind became relevant once again. It does not matter whether this is a person or an object-both are equally relevant. To me, this is a reminder that those people or objects or places or old home bases we leave behind are never truly forgotten and sometimes your cleats meet that base again. Then, just in time, you begin to realize the decisions you have made since then have allowed for better bases because you made the decision to retire that one old and forgotten base. A reappearance of an unwanted old does not hinder the new base traveled. It remains an ever-present and symbolic reminder of your new whimsy that you could have never found without the disposal of the fake whimsy. 

If you do not get anything out of this blog post, you must remember just one thing. The bases we run can never again be run in reverse but the stamp of that base is always there to remind you of an even more whimsical state of being that you have already achieved or the whimsical you intend to create moving forward. What a powerful metaphor created by the youngest of scholars.