Sunshine and Summertime

As of today I am officially done with teaching first grade at Paris Elementary.  I moved all of my stuff out of the room this morning.  I left it with blank walls and basically the way that it was when I found it four years ago.  With a few more games and puzzles and books on the shelves than before!  I do not feel like I am "in" the Kindergarten room yet since I can't move my stuff in until August.  The prospect of teaching Kindergarten is so exciting to me.  I remember my time with Mr. Leader's Kindergarten class in Maryville.  I am so excited for the possibilities.  Next fall I will welcome to school for the very first time the Class of 2024.  But enough of that for now...

Right now it's summer.  Time to think about summer.  There is so much for me to do this summer.  I am leaving on Thursday for a four day meeting.  Then I have a LONG summer of no work.  What in the world am I going to do for the summer you might ask...well, I would like to have another job.  Extra money is always good, right?  But in reality that might not work out for me.  So instead here are some things I want to do this summer...

*Finish unpacking the things I moved into my house last summer.  Ha!  I'm slow at unpacking and moving I know!  I want to unpack everything and organize everything.  I also would like to do some minimizing of the things I own.  Streamlining maybe.

*Paint my Sunday school room and do some organizing work at church.  We have rooms that are not at all being utilized because we have so much JUNK in them!

*Help plan and attend my ten year high school reunion.  I have nothing else to say about this one yet.  It's overwhelming to me.

*Hang out with my friends.  Especially those who are moving soon and those who are coming home to visit that I never get to see...Yes, Rica, that's you!!  I mean, it is summer break, I can't spend the whole time organizing and working.

*Finish a scrapbook.  I must admist I don't feel totally confident about being able to get this project done.  I don't even know exactly where to start actually.  But I'm gonna try.

*Write letters to people.  Real, hand written, snail mail correspondence.  I am particularly excited about this one.  I worry that letter writing is a dying art.  I have a really good friend who asked me recently (in a beautiful card none the less) if I would like to continue keeping up with her via written correspondence.  I am thrilled about this and plan to write her my next letter tonight!

Ok, that is a start of my list of things to do this summer.  Just a start.  I am sure I will think of more as the summer continues.  And of course there are always tons of little everyday things going on.  I am excited that summer is here.  I am excited for a break.  And I am excited for all I am going to get done.  There will be LOTS of chaos and I personally can not wait!!

Do You See What I See?

Do you ever look at someone and think “Man, I really wish they could see what I see.”?    This happens to me often.  I like to watch people.  And in this sport of people watching I have come to be pretty good at reading people.  I can often pick up on unspoken tension or underlying subtleties.  Twice recently I have had overwhelming thoughts of how I wish people could see themselves the way that I see them.  I have thought this about a lot of people in my life, but today I am writing about two people specifically. 

The first is a girl that has been my best friend for years.  I met her in my freshman year of college and, despite the fact that we did not like each other at first and had negative opinions of each other,   we have been friends ever since.  We have been in a few fights in the past several years.  We have even had fights where we didn’t talk for a few weeks.  But even when we fight we are still best friends.  When I have a good day I want to tell her about it.  When I am pissed I want her to be pissed with me.  When my heart gets broken I know I can always talk to her.  She is that kind of friend who is a forever friend.  The one that when I’m eighty and sitting on my porch drinking lemonade she is still going to be my friend.  So, this friend…well she sometimes does not believe in herself.  She wonders why she is not someone else, someone better than herself.  What I wish she could see is that there is no one better.  She is absolutely fantastic.  I wish that she knew she is beautiful and funny.  I wish that she could feel confidence in herself the way I have confidence in her.  She has the knowledge and ability to change the whole world.  She longs to be protected and adored.  I know that she will find those things.  If I could tell her one thing it would be that I hope she remembers that even when it hurts God is refining her into someone that will glorify Him in all she does, and that is a wonderfully beautiful thing.  You my best of all friends are simply amazing.  You amaze me daily and I hope the people you chose to let in your life know just how lucky they are to have you around.  I just wish that you could see what I see.

The second is a guy that is actually a new-ish friend.  Even though we have only been friends for a little while we connected right away.  On like the third or fourth day that I had ever known him he said in a video interview that even though we just met it felt like we had known each other our whole lives.  I could not have said it better.  I have come to think of him like a brother—and if you know how much I love and adore my brothers that is saying a lot!  We don’t have a lot in common besides music.  He knows more about the world (in a global perspective sort of way) than I could ever hope to know.  He is an athlete.  He is a musician.  In a recent conversation with him we were discussing the next big step in his life.  He has chosen to move approximately 868 miles away from his home to pursue higher education.  I am amazed (and I’ll admit slightly jealous because I love the area he’s moving to) at this next step in his life.  However, in my conversation with him he said a lot about how he is not ready to leave and what it comes down to is that he is afraid.  I think he is afraid he will fail.  He spoke about his mom and how she is so wonderful and helps him so much and does so much for him.  He talked about his friends and his girlfriend and not being around them.  What I wish he could see is that he has the ability to do anything he chooses to do.  Yes, it will require a lot of hard work.  But he is more than capable of doing that.  I wish that he believed in himself the way that I believe in him.  I wish he knew that he is brilliant and that his knowledge of people and culture far surpasses that of most people twice his age.  I wish that he could see forward to where his life will be in a few years.  I wish that he could see the way that when he speaks with authority people listen and that gives him the ability to command and lead.  I wish he knew and understood the depth of his talent.  He told me once "with great power comes great responsibility".  Well, my friend they are both yours to have.  And I promise that I will be there to celebrate your successes and encourage you through your failures.  I wish you could see what I see.

Does anyone else ever have these moments?  Times when you can see all that someone else could do and be if only they could see it to?