I’m joining up with Ruth Ayres for her weekly link-up, Celebrate This Week. Check out all of the posts linked up at her blog HERE. Thanks for starting this, Ruth!
I love
Ruth’s weekly link-up because it reminds me to look for celebrations every day.
For example, I could celebrate that Liam finally let me clean out his room
and he finally agreed to parting with some of his “stuff.” Or, I could
celebrate the amount of reading time my boys and I have squeezed in this week.
Or even the fact that Chris and I have actually had time to sit and talk this
week since we weren’t running kids to a practice or a game for the first time
since April. So many reasons.
However the
celebration I have on my mind happened last night. Luke was at a friend’s house
and Liam asked if we could go to the Mexican restaurant uptown. We got the
chance to be a family of three, he actually got some undivided attention, which
he soaked up. While that is an awesome part of our evening as well, what is on
my mind happened while we waited for our food. We were sitting in the back in a
booth. Glancing up at the front, I thought I saw a student from this past year
come in, and then head back out. That isn’t unusual, if you are grabbing a
table outside you come in first to tell them you are there. I wondered how she
was doing, and then continued talking with Chris and Liam. A few minutes later
I looked up and she was headed to the back. Apparently she had seen me and went
to tell her parents she was going to come in.
After a
quick hug hello, she plopped down in the booth next to me to tell me all about
the book she is currently reading. We talked about what genre it was – I had
never heard of it – overall plot, and if I could recommend it to another former
student who had just texted me asking for recommendations. She shared what
parts made it probably inappropriate for my grade level, but also why she loved
it. Then we moved on to talking about her summer, what she was looking forward
to in middle school, and then she left. It was only a probably five minute
conversation, but it left me with a smile on my face.
I love my
students. I love the current class you get each year, the opportunity to help
them grow as readers, writers, and grow as people. I love my former students –
the ones I see around town, or who come to visit me when I’m out, or who knock
on my front door and want to talk. I love the students who send me emails, text
messages, or notes through the mail. Teaching is a tough job. There are times
it feels like it takes over. There are times when it feels like I’m not enough
to fight against an evil empire like Pearson. There are times when I wonder if
it is worth it. And then, a student talks to me while I wait for my dinner, or
sends me a quick note on Instagram, and I know that it most certainly is worth
it. That’s what I’m celebrating this week - the best part of teaching, the connections with my students. I cannot wait to meet my next class in just a few weeks.
