Can You Stay?

With another Red Ribbon Week celebration in the books, 
I'm tucked in comfortably on my couch, reflecting.

One of my all-time favorite days of the school year is the day we set aside for our Hometown Heroes Pep Rally. This year marked our 15-year-anniversary of this celebration. We invited members of our High School football team to open up car doors and greet our students as they arrived for school. The smiles on our star-struck students said more than my words possibly could.

Inside the gym, our superhero role models signed autographs before school.

The gym was packed with FHS role models from the band, most sport teams, the color guard, the cheerleaders, the drill team, the student council, and the Peer Assistance and Leadership students, all there to remind their littlest fans about the importance of making healthy choices, not just this week, but for life.

I seriously did not think the week could get much better. 
Until this morning. 
I was invited to be a mystery reader in Jennifer Collins' first-grade class. I chose the book The Legend of Spookley, the Square Pumpkin. 

I took my ukulele so I could play and sing the last two pages. It was the cutest thing when they sang with me: Maybe one day we'll all discover, that you can't judge a book ~ or a pumpkin ~ by its cover.

Then a little girl whom I can't say I recognized raised her hand. I thought that she might have a connection. Or a story to tell. Instead, she had a question: 
Can you stay?

Well, dear reader, let me just say that words can't adequately describe how it felt, to hear those beautiful words of affirmation. And it got me to thinking about some other three-word phrases that people might need to hear more often. 

Three words that send a heart soaring. 

Three words that someone might be waiting for.

Three transformational words.

Here are a few of those phrases that I think could positively impact a moment, a day, a week, a month, a year, a decade, a lifetime.

*I see you. 

*Are you okay?

*Let me help.

*Come with me.

*I forgive you.

*I am sorry.

*Please forgive me.
*You're a light.

*I admire you.

*Let's be friends.
*Help me understand.
*Tell me more.

*You're so caring.

*I trust you.

*You inspire me.

*I miss you.

*Let's get together.

*Please be careful.

*I appreciate you.

*I am grateful.

*Thank you kindly.

*You come first.

*I love you.

*Please stay longer.
*Be the reason.

Don't those three little words feel AmAzInG?

What would you add to this list?

And who do you know that needs to hear these from you?

Before I sleep, a few resources to wrap up Red Ribbon Week, starting with this visual display that the first-grade team put up ...

and some energy-saving tips from our district Energy Guy.

Listen to an Edspiration podcast interview about empathy I gave {here}.

EnJOY a podcast about tackling bullying in the upper grades {here}.

Watch Fresno Unified District's Human Kind masterpiece {here}.

And check out the newbie bullying-prevention emoji.

What a week!