Yesterday, at Lucy's school (day care), they had an end of
year celebration - a graduation if you will
Her teacher, Miss Julie, spoke lovingly and kindly of the entire
class
The love and appreciation she has for all our kids was
clearly evident by the smile on her face and the slight waiver in her voice
At one point, as she addressed the proud parents, grandparents,
aunts and uncles crowding around her and the kids, she signaled out one of the
kids in the class
Now this was quite uncharacteristic for Miss Julie as she is
a firm believer in treating everyone the same…. no one gets more attention,
more hugs, more kisses or more love than the next kid….
With Miss Julie, we are all on equal ground – it’s one of my
favorite things about her
But yesterday, she signaled out one of the kids and quite
deservingly so
I’m paraphrasing here because I can’t quite remember it
word for word, and I may be including some of the conversation we had after the
celebration was over, but the gist of what she said was this:
She said there was one young person in the class that
throughout the year, they could always rely on for his positive attitude and outlook
on life
That this young boy could turn anything around simply by
finding something else to be happy or grateful for….and this had a profound
effect on the teachers and the kids alike
Miss Julie said he'd run out of blue paint, his favorite
color, see the full jar of red paint and declare that red was his new favorite
color - even if only for today
This young boy she was talking about was one of the first
kids we met when we started at the school – he’s one of Lucy’s favorites (we
know this as she follows the poor kid around like a puppy dog) – and he’s one
of our favorites
His Dad was the first parent we met there, and my first Dad
crush
Like his son, and like his Dad, they are both sweet and
happy and kind and considerate and always smile when I see them or they see me
And his older sister is this bundle of brains, energy, drama
and compassion that makes me want to hug her as hard as I can for in her, I see
me at that age
The three of them appreciate everyone in their lives so much…..it
is them who make the rest of us feel special just by knowing them
They have enriched our lives just by being there every day
at pick up and drop off
It’s been a humdinger of a day – another in a long line of
many
A day where you sit back in your chair take a deep breath
and google what should I be doing with my life (true story, I did that this
morning)
A day where you want scream and yell and be cranky and hate
your job
And I was dangerously close to that not too long ago
But then I remembered the time Jack ran out of his favorite
color paint, blue, so he decided red would be his new favorite color…even if only
for the day
So I took a deep breath, counted my blessings and tried
really hard to slow down, find something good in the midst of all that was
going wrong, and shared it with at least one other person
And with that, my humdinger of a day isn't so bad anymore
So thank you to my little friend Jack for reminding me red
can be the new blue
And thank you John and Sharon for giving the world this ray
of sunshine
Maria the Mum
