handwritten on September 21, 2019
Sometimes it's the tiniest of crunches that create the biggest whimsies. Tonight was my mother-in-law's birthday and we decided upon a wonderful tai place with umbrellas hanging outside and the most peaceful green garden undercoving to celebrate a birthday. We were placed beside a waterfall with a trickling that left your insides feeling rather serene.
The coined word of the night was "crunch." She loved the beef because it had a "crunch" and the tofu because it had a "crunch." We had a sampling of miniature french desserts from a bakery near where we live and her favorite dessert was a chocolate mound with a little "crunch" on the outside and a little "crunch" on the bottom. She must have...
handwritten on September 20, 2019
I think I realized the exact opposite definition of whimsy today and it is "catch up." But the phrase itself "catch up" is often seen as someone or something being ahead of where you are supposed to be. And that very definition is what causes life and your soul to become a race that constantly feels defeated because the very truth of the matter is: You will never be "caught up" in work, in life, in your relationships, in your heart, in the coffee that you drink, in the music that you sing, in the tune that you hear...
And I think as soon as we realize this fact: we spend less time "catching up" and more time "catching up" or the second definition "meeting another." But to me, that second...
handwritten on September 19, 2019
We all have outfits that exemplify the whimsy inside of us. For me, I have told my students time and time again "these are my happy pants." Happy pants for me are pants that give me flexibility even though I'm completely unflexible. They are pants that have design and material so flimsy you think when you are running, you have no pants on at all. They are pants that do not hug tight but fly free.
I think some have inquired through the years why it is that I tend to wear oversized clothing. Do you not like tight clothing? Why do you get a medium when you could wear a small? Why do you like big t-shirts? Don't you want a sweatshirt that fits closer?
I think for me, I don't like to feel...
handwritten on September 18, 2019
I usually cannot find whimsy in insects. However, every time I walk into the bathroom, I'm reminded of our friendly family spider that lives in the corner near our bathroom. It's strange because both my husband and myself have an extreme aversion to anything that crawls. He tends to always find and kill his arch nemesis (the 100 legged creepy crawlers), and I generally am frightened of tiny ants. But for whatever reason, we have both found this spider and cannot find the heart to kill it.
This unspoken silence lasted until this week when both my husband an myself looked at eachother and questioned eachother about the spider. He replied, "I just cannot kill it." And I replied, "He isn't...
handwritten on September 17, 2019
I'm not quite sure you should be recognized for coining the word "thingy-majig" but I think it is quite grand. And thingy majig's can be a teacher's doom or they can be the most beautiful whimsy of all time.
Some people call them knick-knack's or "fiddlers," but I like to call them thingy-majigs and essentially I'm referring to any object that seems to have the magic of taking over any child's full focus. For some, these are known as "distractors," and sometimes that is the case. However, if we are all being truthful with ourselves, whatever stage of life you're in, we all need a bit of a thingy-majig magic to get us through the day.
This year, I have a class full of beautiful students...
