I debated what to call today's love. I've gone from "Today I love being slap happy" (The Man and I were giggling at the silliest things this morning!) to "Today I love laughing" (I decided to tell the story about what we were giggling about to my 7th graders, to whom I have been very grumpy lately...it made them laugh, too!) to "Today I love Kid Snippets"
(We stretched Bible class today into a lesson on Proverbs 17:22 and there's nothing that makes my 7th graders more cheerful than Kid Snippets!) to finally...this: Today I love playing my game, my way. This whole Today I Love thing is my baby. I wasn't forced into it...I challenge myself to look for something positive, something that I love in each day. As of today, I've been at it for 326 (mostly in a row) days now and I've tried very very hard not to repeat anything, with the exception of The Man, because, well, he's just so lovable!
ANYWAY...today was a long day. It was picture day so the schedule got thrown off. There was the bank on the way home, then dinner, then a meeting, but an errand, no wait, two errands before the meeting and one errand after the meeting. There is still a lot left to do today, but not a lot of hours left in which to get it done. Grade cards are coming and the mountain of ungraded papers that always seems to crop up right before that deadline. Spring Break is around the corner and I really really really don't want to be grading papers over Spring Break. As I type this, the dishes are being done by that wonderful Man of mine, and he's also put in a load of laundry tonight as well. (See what I mean by him being just so lovable?)
So, today I break my own rule and play my game my way. I was blessed with another handwritten letter from THE Letter Writer Extraordinaire, My Aunt AnnaMarie in Kansas today, and by golly...I love it! Bless her heart, she was sitting out there thinking she had made me mad because I've been so remiss in writing her back after her many missives to me. Sigh...nothing could be further from the truth! But she also tells me that she understands being busy with a husband, kids, and a career and she remembers being there herself at one time. Thank you Aunt Anna Marie, for the letter, for the understanding, and for giving me just what I needed in the midst of a busy day...something to love AGAIN!
(And thank you cousin Cindy for printing this off for her as I know you will!)
Yesterday I discussed my love for my SMART phone and the fact that I am not really a techie girl. I do love the many conveniences my smarter than I am phone offers me, but here tonight is what I really, really, really LOVE when it comes to communication.
I am blessed to teach at a Christian School. Three days a week we walk what we talk to our students about by getting together, touching base, reading a bit of scripture, praying for one another, and learning more about how we can each best do this thing called life together. We have each others' backs. This morning in staff devotions we covered the first bit of Romans 16, which opens with a long list of personal greetings that Paul is asking to be sent on his behalf while he himself is far away from home and loved ones. We were asked to consider the importance of personal greetings.
I immediately traveled in my mind to the drawer at home and the file (bursting!) at school where I keep such treasures. The Mother's Day cards, anniversary cards, letters, and notes that so many have taken the time to send me all came to mind. I'm not a hoarder, really I'm not,
but you can count on me saving a letter, note, card, or sticky note that
someone took the time to write on just for me.
I traveled back in time some 14 years ago to my precious years at Brown Elementary where one Rob Spicer would frequently leave "Just a Note" on a bulletin board display my students and I had labored over.
In my mind I walked my short gravel drive to my mailbox, where many a day, just when I needed it the most, I would find a note, letter, or card from the great state of Kansas where letter writer Extraordinaire Aunt AnaMarie Slack is, as I type, still waiting patiently for this year's Christmas letter! (It's coming, I promise!) Or perhaps the postman left a card that day from Jaci or Kelly or Miss Melody or Annie or Renee or Meredith or my brother or one of my sisters.
I immediately traveled back to a few years ago now when that same trip to the mailbox would produce a letter that had traveled all the long way across the ocean from Africa, where my Peace Corps volunteering niece Jessica was serving.
I jumped back to each and every October in recent memory where this time the mailbox greeted me with the latest installment in the "Who Can Make The Other One Cry With Their Birthday Card Selection" contest that My Ol' Man and I have been having. (This last October I declared him the winner for once and for all...dang, that man can pick 'em!)
And, yes, I visited that "Rainy Day" file I have at school where I keep those notes and cards from students and parents. You know, the ones you read on the days when you question not only your decision to teach, but your very existence on the planet. The ones that tell you maybe you don't stink at what you do after all and maybe you should give it one more try before you consider actually handing in that resignation letter.
Okay, maybe I am a bit of a hoarder, but today I love a handwritten letter.
