This, my friends, is my view for roughly 8 hours a day:
Majestic is the land that I lord over. 🙂
I love my view. I see the most random mix of things from it. Good, bad, ugly, scraped, hysterical, chaotic, heartwarming — you name it, I’ve seen it from my little perch.
I am so lucky to have landed in such an amazing place. I can completely be myself here — dorky jokes, little contests, funny jokes… everything that I’m great at, and love doing, I get to do here. And I get to use my knowledge and background of working with kids on a daily basis.. something that I had a hiatus from for awhile. Mind you, this allowed me to hone new skills, and learn new facets of this world. But this is where my heart is.
It’s only been a little over a year, but it’s been long enough for me to see a plethora of things that have patched my faith in a sometimes discombobulated humanity. I’ve seen hugs given, countless joyful reunions after a long day at school, handshakes passed, songs sung, jokes made, kids skipping into school just plain excited to be here, birthday cupcakes shared… Obviously there have been scrapes and bruises and tears not so much of joy, but those are minor bumps in the road.
I’ve witnessed a student unashamedly blowing kisses to his mom, and yelling down the hallway that he loves her. I’ve seen groups of older girls surround and welcome younger girls who are longing to be a part of the group. I’ve seen parents arriving to school 20 minutes early simply because they cannot WAIT to see their children.
There are times off and on when I feel the melancholy feeling of the longing to be in a classroom. My teaching career never got off of the ground in the traditional sense, and sometimes that stings. It wasn’t my lack of skills or knowledge. It wasn’t me as a person. It was the economy, and the lack of jobs. When I applied for my first teaching job, so did 84 other people. It was intense. And then shortly after some time searching, I got some new opportunities that I pursued, and that allowed me to use my degree to an extent and in a different way. And I wouldn’t take any of that time back. But when it comes time to do things like organize my house, and go through tubs that I have which are full of teaching things that I acquired, I find myself getting really sad. And when I am asked to sit in a classroom for awhile to help out a teacher (which I love!), I often leave feeling that ache of wishing that I was in there full time. People outside of the school will ask me if I plan on teaching ever. I am never really sure how to answer that question, so I just say “I’m not really sure…” And I truly am not really sure. We will see where life takes us.
But right now, I’m snug behind my desk, behind my window. Where my bucket is filled every day by interactions with these awesome kids. I care so much about each and every one of them, and I try hard to make sure that my interactions reflect that. I like to think that I succeed. I know that I have my grouchy days, and the days where I’m just irrationally annoyed and it’s no one else’s fault. But more often than not, I like to think of my little spot here as a positive one.
This time of year makes me a bit more reflective, as I know is the case with a lot of you. There’s something about this cozy and generally joyful time of year that makes us grateful for our blessings. And one of my biggest blessings is having a job that I love being at every day. I’m not always a big fan of waking up, or the commute, but I love my job itself. And I don’t plan on budging for awhile, because I know there are a ton of other things for me to see from my window. There are lots of jokes, tears, shouts, funny stories, and tantrums for me to witness front and center… I could write an entire blog just based on the hilarious things I’ve heard the kids say, but I won’t bore you with that. 🙂 I have heard kids threaten to punch bees in the face, heard countless stories about parents that I’m not sure they realize are being told, and laughed to myself as kids try to grasp and utilize figures of speech and fun little idioms, just to summarize a few.
The moral of my story today is this: Everyone has a window. It’s their desk, their delivery van, their counter, their register, their couch… We all have a unique view of this world that we are blessed to be a part of. And while sometimes it may seem like you’d rather have someone else’s view, just remember that your view is unique because of the viewer. It is through your eyes that you are seeing all of this. And yes — sometimes we do need a change of view. And I encourage you to pursue the new view with confidence and excitement. But no matter where your perch is, keep your eyes open and looking forward, because you never know what you will see from where you sit. 🙂
.mandyatory reading. 