One more day...

I think Friday, the 30th, will be my last sub day for this school year. I've had 3 days at Orondo this week. It's a great place. I learned about one teacher that waited 10 years to get on staff at Orondo. There are 19 kids in each of the 6th and 7th gr classes, about 30 in the 5th grade. I had 5th and 6th the past two days, while the 7th was off on their annual field trip. Good kids. We talked about going to the doc, why the doc needs to hear from the patient (esp when he/ she is 12) rather than just the mom. Why the doc needs to know how you feel, rather than how your mom thinks you feel.

In the afternoon I read to the 5th graders, and taught sixth graders how to play online sudoku. Also listened to some of their personal stories, of moves, siblings, gardens. Stuff that shows family values they come from. One of the sharpest girls in 6th has only lived in the valley for 10 months. I'd like to meet her folks. I had her sister in 4th grade.

Last Friday I had first grade. Uh-boy.... try to get them quiet, even in a line -- two weeks before the end of school. In the morning I thought, "...maybe I'm just way too easy and that's why the kids like me.... maybe I shouldn't be in this job...." By afternoon, when we were out with track and field, and I was cheering on the petite little kinder girl who ran like the wind, or the shy and defensive boy who won first in Boys First grade, I fell in love again. My first grade class had a new girl, who didn't speak English yet, who hung on me. I understood about half of what she said, and had to keep telling her "my mind is slow... speak more slowly..." (smile!) because she rambled -- but was excited, enjoying herself, and fitting in beautifully with the others. I can cheer! I can encourage! -- I can learn to deal with rough days; just need a quiet summer to catch up with myself.

Today I'm back to -- ugh! cleaning, bill paying, etc.

This is always good for me...

NO FARTHER AWAY THAN TODAY by Helen Lowrie Marshall

No farther away than Here and Today is the loveliest place I know --
A small secret spot in a walled garden plot where all the nice memories grow.

It's bordered with kindness and sprinkled with smiles and shaded by friendly trees --
This small quiet place in that walled garden space with its bright little memories.

And I think about this -- how, if I were to miss one day with my rake and my hoe
In planting the seeds of a few kindly deeds, it would mean fewer memories to grow.

So I try every hour to plant a new flower, and strike down a weed in the way
Where the nice memories grow in that spot that I know, no farther than Here and Today.