day 170: an anchor to my soul

They come in from the bus with faces that ask "what do you have for me today, miss karen?". Pink, black, blue bags are hung up and left wide open, ready to receive evidence of their efforts. Their energy.

We write names, squeeze clips, and then we dance. Everyday. Their teachers want to start the day with joy and rejoicing, so we swing our hips, we raise our arms, and we celebrate our being there.

Scissors, glue, pencils, paint, books, love. We have plenty of each, and we slop it around because it feels right.

When a little brown-faced girl looks at you and spells her name and you have to hold it together just so that you don't have to spend the rest of the day reassuring your jumpy little guy that you are ok and everything is fine. When you see kindness being dealt out from one little friend to another. When you start praying to know what to do for little x, y, and z. This is when you say thank you in your heart, and you do the best you can to grab onto the hope of a better world.

6 comments

Erin | February 5, 2010 at 7:06 AM

You must be an absolutely amazing teacher, Kazzy.

Luann | February 5, 2010 at 8:16 AM

Erin, she is.

Kimberly Vanderhorst | February 5, 2010 at 9:53 AM

How blessed those little souls are to have you.

Melanie Jacobson | February 5, 2010 at 11:13 AM

Beautiful.

Lara Neves | February 5, 2010 at 5:27 PM

I think it would be an amazing experience to work with those kids.

And you are amazing, too.

Dedee | February 8, 2010 at 11:23 AM

Beautifully said.