Tired, Tender & Thankful

Today's blog entry, post #350 at the Corner (that's a LOT of words!), finds me a little bit under the weather fighting the chest cold that, were I a gambling girl, I would have bet I wasn't going to get this year! Our bodies just know when we need to decompress, stay home, and do nothing, don't they? So Saturday as the clothes washer spun and the dishwasher splashed, I felt tired but thankful for some tender moments that I've had this past week.


Tender moment number one happened on Friday when I went to my AP's office and saw a kindergartener whom I've grown quite fond of. I asked him why he was there and he said he didn't get his work done and he wasn't listening to his teacher, but he added that he was going to turn that around this afternoon. Mr. Whitlock was about to send him on his way when he looked at me with his big brown eyes and said, "Would you walk with me to put my tray up and get back to my class?"  I think I saw Mr. Whitlock wipe a tear from his eye and I KNOW that my heart skipped a beat as I said "absolutely!"  

As we were walking, he said that he liked me because I was a Peacemaker; after he put his tray up, he reached for my hand. He said he wanted to hold hands "so we don't get lost." All together now - Awwww! Such a great metaphor for what we as educators get to do; what could be a more worthwhile calling than making sure they don't get lost! When he got back to class, he told his teacher, "we got to talk about character."


A second point of gratitude this week happened yesterday mid-morning when I got an email from Cheryl over at Primary Graffiti out of the blue sharing her packet for Memoirs of a Goldfish with me just because she knows how much I love a good book. Don't you just LOVE random acts of kindness. That totally overflowed my bucket! If you haven't already purchased the packet or picked up your freebie, 'water' you waiting for? It's pHeNoMeNaL! Coincidentally, a little something also came by US post from Carol McCloud of Bucket Filler fame, some of her wonderful books to use as Door Prizes at the WI Character Conference I'll speak at next month. How generous is THAT?! 


Finally, I'm tender because of your warm fuzzies and kind reflections and feedback at the Corner lately and I'm feeling thankful for those of you who take the time to read my ramblings and write your reflections. Technically, I've passed my one-year anniversary as a blogger though it won't officially be a year with Blogger until I write my 365th post, sometime in June. I'll be writing more about that in the upcoming weeks. Life is good; thank you for joining me on my journey.