Sometimes I am at a loss for words. Usually I have a lot to say and a lot to write about...this is why I have been writing blog posts for many years. But this weekend was one that was full of such a range of emotions that I am having a hard time putting my thoughts together in a cohesive message. Instead I will share with you snippets of my emotional thoughts...
Friday night was a dress rehearsal for Halloween in our house. For good or bad, I told Emerson about a party at the Y. She has worn her costume a few times, but this event was special because she got to "wear make-up!" (said with a high pitched squeal.) . There was a moment when I was watching her admire her glitter and pink lipstick and jewel-stickered face in the mirror and I was so overcome with emotion that I had to quickly hide the tears in my eyes. Watching your child grow, watching her become this thinking, feeling, amazing being...well there are moments when my heart feels full. And you just don't want those moments to end or at least you don't want to forget them. Especially when two hours later we were back in the bathroom and I was no longer the one crying. Putting on the makeup and costume is exciting. Taking it off and showering when you are tired and overstimulated from a crowded event...not so exciting.
On Sunday, as I was driving home from the funeral service of a staff member that I unfortunately never met in person, I saw this billboard: "Caring. It's What We Do." It was an advertisement for a medical facility. Even though I never met Rebecca, I had heard stories from staff members about how she cared for others. The full temple and stories from loved ones were a testament to the caring life she lived. Caring was exactly what Rebecca did. One thing that struck me at the service was the Jewish tradition of "Keriah", which is the rending of garments prior to the funeral service. I wanted to learn more about this so I came home and read about the tradition. Considering what happened at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, it seems that we all should be in mourning, we all need to be practicing keriah. It seems that our whole country should be "exposing our hearts" and tearing our clothing over our torn hearts; our hearts are broken. Unfortunately, I have a friend who is from Pittsburgh and two of the victims were her family members. How can we be living in a world that has caring people like Rebecca and someone who could be so full of hate?
I came across this quote which I am going to try to live by:
I refuse to let yet another senseless tragedy weaken me. I choose to care. Caring. It's what we do. It's what we all need to do.
This weekend was all sorts of emotions mixed together. And as educators, we have to always remember about the emotions that we have experienced and are experiencing, as well as what our students are also dealing with before they even step into our classroom. I thought about the joy of a staff member getting married. Even wind and rain couldn't put a damper on that awesome experience. Isn't that the great thing about love? And then of course there was the excitement and pure joy of celebrating the Red Sox last night. World Series Champions. We all got to celebrate for a few minutes, jump up and down in our living rooms, high five on the couch, cheer. Yes, this weekend ran the gamut of emotions. From really high to painfully low. That's the thing about this whole being human issue. It's great and it's really hard, all at the same time.
My new obsession right now is Brene Brown and here's a quote from her that I wanted to share with all of you:
Currently reading:
I have had Kate DiCamillo's book Raymie Nightingale for a while, but after another recent recommendation, I fianlly picked it up and read it pretty quickly this week. Overall, the book is about an unlikely friendship between three very interesting girls. But as we meet each character, we learn that Kate covers many different topics within this book. The biggest theme for me was the concept of family, all different kinds, and how life is full of positives, but also many negative, sad times. How do these three girls figure out how to "save" each other from the reality of their lives? Read this book and find out!
I am listening to an amazing book called Dare to Lead by researcher Brene Brown. I am enjoying this book so much that I went and ordered a copy of it so I could listen in my car, then go back and reread and highlight and take notes in the actual book. I have read a few other books by Brene, but this one is definitely speaking to me. I am only about a third of the way into the book, but I have already pulled out so many quotes that have resonated with me. I actually kicked off our 3rd through 5th grade PD afternoon with this one... (and naturally I had a clip of "let's get ready to rumble" included)
Monday - Patty and Liz part of a webinar training for the new website from 1:00-3:00
Tuesday - Liz at Regional Principal Gathering in Leominster @ 7:30-9:00
Wednesday - Wellness Wednesday! End of term 1, Literacy Parade at 2:30!
Thursday - Liz at a PLT Meeting from 7:45-10:00
Friday - Rain date for Literacy Parade,
Great things I noticed last week:
- I popped into 4th grade music and movement and caught Mrs. Sweeney helping Mr. Wilde with demonstrations. Working those biceps!
- Mrs. Petersen's 3rd graders were excited to show me their projects for the literacy parade! They were being very creative with their character sandwich boards.
- Mrs. White's class was working on writing about the character traits of some of the characters they were reading about.
- On Friday, I was able to watch the 3rd graders cross the Atlantic! Students had fun answering questions as a team while riding in their imaginary boats in the pod.
Check it out:
To go with my emotional weekend and emotional post, someone shared this video clip with me. Music always makes me feel. And watching Pink sing with and encourage her daughter to sing is awesome. Not to mention, the soundtrack for "The Greatest Showman" is definitely one of my favorite things. This song, "A Million Dreams"...love the line "I think of what the world could be...a million dreams is all it's gonna take..."
Also, here's a post that I wrote about ed tech and connections for Big Deal Media: https://www.bigdealbook.com/blog/?show=lets_get_ed_technical
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