Today was a day in which my view of "haphazard changed a bit." For those who know the story I am telling already, you will understand why the word "haphazard" is on my mind. I was told today that my walls in my classroom were "haphazard." So I naturally did a little research of my own and came up with the following definition: lacking any obvious principle of organization. Synonyms include but are not limited to the following: disorganized, messy, no order and unsystematic. And I had to laugh a bit because generally I'm in my classroom until about 6:00 or later planning and preparing and creating and sending emails and writing a note for my students. I suppose whimsy can sometimes be missed in another's eyes. But also important for us to realize that what may appear as someone else's whimsy may certainly not be "our version." Whimsy does appear in many different forms depending on the viewer. 

A little bit down on other's perception of my own whimsy and feeling a lack of faith and certainly a lack of grace during the day, one of my students came up to me before her drink break and said, "Mrs. Amoscato...my dad got you one too." I had to rummage through my brain to remember just exactly to what she was referring to. A day prior, this same student had come up to me with a beautiful plastic beaded necklace. I had commented on it and said, "Gosh that is simply beautiful." "Who got you that neckace?" "My dad did" she answered. A moment later, she ran back to me and said, "I think he would want you to have it." I gave it back to her and said, "No no. I can tell this necklace is very important. Your dad wanted you to have this necklace. But thank you for your kindness."

When I turned around, she was holding a necklace (which happened to be a rosary) except this time it was yellow beads instead of green beads. I gave her a huge hug and told her how beautiful it was. "Well my dad really wanted you to have one too" she said. Who knew that a string of beads could create a new feeling of whimsy in the room. It's funny because, most of the student remarked on how lovely it was and we decided to hang it on our easel so that every time we do work at "bridge side" we would be able to see it. 

For me, those little beads was awareness of the fact that my haphazard, though haphazard to some is really a collection of whimsy. Perhaps my passions may look a little worn and a little messy, but I always make sure that my heart is in the right place. So now those beads are a reminder that although they hang in an evenly placed straight line, each little bead contains a bit of haphazard whimsy-and that collection of haphazard is what creates the magic.