I'll Take It

I think something died in my hut.

It certainly smells like it.

But the whole room smells so bad that we can’t figure out where the dead carcass might be.

In the ceiling? In the wall? In the floor? In some hidden corner?

Or there might not be a dead carcass.

Who knows.

All we know is that my room stinks.

Really badly it stinks.

And for someone with a strong sensitivity to smell,

It’s made for a sickeningly frustrating week.


Instead of coming home extremely ill today, though, I came home smiling. Even with arms still sticky from an emergency freezer clean-out in the workroom (which last year pushed me over the edge around this time of year), I am smiling. Here are the four reasons why:


1) As one of the assistants picked up her class this morning, I noticed that we were dressed alike: khaki capri pants with an orange tank top under our Team Julie shirts. I looked at her and said, “We’re twins!” Then I said, “Look kids! We’re twins! If I were walking down the road, then I wouldn’t be able to tell us apart.” Then we heard someone say, “Noooo! You don’t look alike, Ms. Deaton. Ms. E has a streak in her hair.” I said, “Oooh. So if I go get a streak in my hair, THEN we’ll be twins.” “Noooo! Your shoes don’t match.” “Her hair is shorter than yours.” “You don’t have on socks, Ms. D.” So on and so forth. Here’s the thing: Ms. E is black; Ms. D is white. It’s very clear that we’re not twins. But that one obvious fact never crossed the kids’ minds. I looked at Ms. E and said, “I love how kids think.” And I do.


2) Kindergarten. Students are singing and dancing. A tiny,cute, curly-headed boy urgently walks behind my desk, insistently taps me on the hip, then looks up at me and says, "Do you have any chips?" I wasn't sure that I'd understood him, so I said, "What, baby?" He said, "I need some chips. "I chuckled and said, "No, baby. I don't have any chips." He said, "Okay," and then walked back to his place and continued dancing. I was laughing so hard that I called Barb to share. She said, "It's sort of like, 'Got milk?'" and laughed, too. Then, at the end of the day, as this student sat in the car-rider line, I said, “Hey. Did you ever get your chips?” He said, “No. I got some cookies.”


3. This week’s character education writing challenge was to write about someone who has persevered. As I read this week’s submissions, I found myself feeling a full range of emotions. Some stories were of book characters. Some were original works of fiction. Some were heart-breaking stories of reality that helped me better understand the things our students deal with. And one was the emphatic declaration, “I am perseverance”—although I’m pretty sure that this emphatic declaration was more of an accident than a statement. I’m pretty sure that the student didn’t know how to turn the word perseverance into “someone who perseveres” or any other form of the word. Regardless, what she wrote was pretty awesome. It was something like this: “I am perseverance because I didn’t give up when my teacher gave me a problem that was hard. At first, I didn’t understand it but I kept trying until I got it right. I am perseverance. Now, every time my teacher gives me a new problem, I know that I can do it. I am perseverance.”


4. I received one distinguished on this year’s summative evaluation: Teacher provides an environment in which each child has a positive, nurturing relationship with a caring adult. I’ll take it…


…even if I’m currently building positive, nurturing relationships in a hut that stinks.