Friday, November 4, 2011

days 3 and 4


Today I am going to be thankful for yesterday and today all rolled into one. Don't get me wrong - I was actually thankful yesterday, I just didn't get a chance to write it down. Thanks to my friend Dawn, and her spurring me on to be thankful, and to be deliberate about it. If it weren't for her, I probably wouldn't be making the effort.

Day 3

Yesterday I was thankful for my second graders.

I know this might come as a shock to you , but I am not always thankful for my students. :)

Sometimes, they get on my nerves, and I have trouble being patient with them. But yesterday, my 2nd graders were singing. I was teaching them a bunch of songs to go along with their Westward Expansion unit  that their teachers will do soon. Home on the Range was a hit with one of them, as I noted here.

So we sang.

We started with the song they had learned most recently, The Erie Canal. Then we sang through all the others in a random order. Some of those featured were: Clementine, Goodbye Old Paint, Old Dan Tucker (cheering and clapping when I pulled that one out), Home on the Range, I've Been Working on the Railroad, and Casey Jones.

What I loved about these 2nd graders is that they sang with gusto. They sang with everything they had. They sang like they meant it. And the singing was not always the best, or always on key, but they had so much enthusiasm that it made me actually smile. Several times. They sang their little 2nd grade hearts out.

For a moment, I saw the unfiltered joy that comes when you can sing with everything you have, and not be concerned about who is listening, or how they might be judging you.

We all need to do this kind of singing more often - it's good for the soul.

Day 4

Today I am thankful for Becky.

Becky is another music teacher at my school. She and I have the same job, but at different campuses. My school has 3 elementary campuses, and a Jr. High, and a High School. There are only 3 people in the whole place that have my same job, and Becky is one of them. She came over today to borrow a Guiro because she needs it for her upcoming concert. But that's not why I am thankful.

She sat and talked for awhile, and shared some things that are going on in her family. And we talked about some changes coming in our school. And I'd like to think that we solved all the world's problems. Actually we only made each other feel better about our own problems, but isn't that what friends are for? I'm thankful for her friendship, and that we can pray for each other. I'm thankful that we care for each other, and don't just have a surface-y relationship that is thrown together because we happen to be working at the same place at the same time.

We truly are good friends, and for that I am thankful.
Here's to God's gifts to us, especially in the realm of friendship.
K

2 comments:

  1. I love your image of the children singing with all their hearts...there are so many ways we could stand to be more like the kiddos. :0)

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  2. I am thankful for both of you...and I miss you and our Friday lunches. Blessings friend.

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