2 miles: I always marvel when I connect with my fourth and fifth grade students in other school related activities...just how fast time goes by and just how fast a soul blossoms. 

A lot of the reason why I do what I do through writing and speech making and poetry and student council is simply to stay connect to the student as they begin to make their way up through elementary school and eventually transition to middle school. 

As I was talking to a few of my third graders from last year, I took a minute to marvel in the amount of changes I saw within those hearts that first entered my classroom precisely one and a half years ago. And the difference is simply unbelievable. Personalities change and passions develop. A lot of my students that maybe seemed quieter have found their sense of self. Student develop humor and kindness and this in-depth thinking that sometimes you don't necessarily see in the third grade. Or perhaps the thinking that has developed now is more fine-tuned, more critical, more confident. 

And I think as teachers the reason why many of us are constantly thinking about just how precious life is-is because when you watch a child's soul blossom you realize

if you blink you will miss it

moments such as these are so very fleeting

It takes time to notice the changes

soul blossoming changes and flows at incredible speeds

The art of soul blossoming is one a lot of times we miss

Taking time to notice soul-growth is sometimes placed far away in the fields so that we forget

just how beautiful 

and graceful

the process is

And all of a sudden we see a student who we once knew and connected with and that individual has a full personality springing with zest and charisma and new passions and all of a sudden you realize

just how quickly time passes by

and maybe how disconnected you have become

and just how very lightly (we as teachers) touch the lives of those youngsters...who in time

may never remember that

joke in class or that specific moment your chair broke

or when the whole class erupted in laughter

but soul growth is not to be taken lightly

because deep down all of those little moments shape who we are

and when we are older we begin to realize just how much