el ritmo

The dust of the day is still whirling around in my head...I feel the need to write but I can't latch on to any one specific moment. Maybe the barest and truest way to talk about it is to say that it flowed completely in rhythm with me.

It wasn't a starfish story day...there was not one particular cathartic moment. But my kids are learning my name, and I can't take a bathroom break without one of them badgering the teacher with "Where's Maggie?" I got some "one second side hug" practice (the only permissible physical contact with students) when three sweaty little athletes attacked me in the hallway after football practice. I've seen some kids reach way deep down and surprise themselves with something intuitive, hilarious, quirky or inspiring...and I can't wait to see what else is in there!



By seventh period, I'll be the first to admit that the kids don't seem like such little miracles anymore. The fluorescent ceiling lights make my eyeballs feel as if they're being slowly wrenched around in circles in their sockets. Those couple kids with the too-cool-for-school veneer have pretty much lost all my sympathy by mid afternoon. Right as my brain and my patience feel like they're liquifying into a gooey alphabet soup, some kid (today it was the perpetual pencil-tapper) will say something that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. At this point there's nothing left to do but mentally throw up my hands and surrender my(usually justified) frustration. Because deep down in the barest, truest part of myself, I know that never in my life have I been this happy.