handwritten on April 4, 2019
I was at Urban Impact tonight sitting on the third floor and one of the students experienced a nosebleed in the middle of a song. We went down to the first floor together to grab a drink of water, a wet paper towel and clean up his chin and the rest of his face. He seemed pretty unphased by the whole dilemma.
And sometimes when you are forced to take just a little break, you have the most wonderful conversations. We were sitting across from one another at the table and we were talking about school and the fact that he was in third grade and I am a third grade teacher. We talked about his friends and his favorite subject. I complimented him on his stellar improv drum skills to which he...
handwritten on April 2, 2019
I walked through the doors this morning expecting the usual. People passing by at the copy machine. Me rushing around trying to figure out plans for the day. Smiling children. Bells ringing. Shuffling feet. All of those things occurred this fine Tuesday but there were some some unexpected surprises.
Only five minutes walking to the copier, I realized one of my colleagues was crying. And she never cries. Apparently, her cat was incredibly sick and she was going to have to put it down today. With tears running down her face she apologized multiple times for crying. I always find it interesting that we as humans feel the need to apologize for our uncontrollable tears. With no cat of my own, I...
handwritten on April 1, 2019
One of my former students is currently the only poet to be participating in our Hartwood Elementary Public Seaking Event. She has been writing dilligently for weeks crafting her poem about the symbolic colors of the rainbow. And as I was reading her piece, I realized that she may have gone a bit too far because as we were talking about the colors of the rainbow, I found myself reading a stanza completely devoted to the color brown.
Now this student is filled with gumption. I'm glad she is because as I verbally questioned her piece, she looked at me with this surprised look on her face and said, "You don't get my rainbow? How could you not get my rainbow?" I said, "I get your rainbow,...
handwritten on March 31, 2019
Tonight I headed to a PSTP gathering with my husband. This is a Physician Scientist Training Program through The University of Pittsburgh Medical School. The individual who runs this beautiful program or at least the social gatherings as well as coordinating the admissions process for incoming freshman as well as other events is a young soul (around my age.) His name is Blair and man does he have a beautiful story (as all people do.)
The first time I met Blair was a few years back. Blair is one of those individuals that has a beautiful light around him at all times. He celebrates life like it is his full-time job. And it is. He promotes the program while always making sure everyone feels...
handwritten on March 30, 2019
My husband and myself have always enjoyed going on long walks. And I think when we got married walks became even more important to create a natural thinking space. For whatever reason-not that we do not talk in everyday life-but we always talk deeper talks when walking. It could be just the motion or the fresh air or the natural freedom that unleashes new ideas and troubling thoughts or important aspirations or inspirations.
Well tonight (due to a few naps) tended to be a later thinking walk than normal. But without hesitation, when one mentioned it to the other, we agreed that we would walk until the light began to fade between the sidewalks and gravel parking lots of the city in which we...
