I find it interesting where you find life lessons. These lessons can be for yourself, someone you love, or students you care about. We never go looking for these lessons; they just seem to appear. The trick to these lessons is being open to seeing them when they occur, and if you miss it, allow others to point them out to you. This week offered a few.
This morning our daughter came out for breakfast. I could tell from the look on her face that something had already gone wrong. Somehow in the 20 minutes from waking to sitting at the table, the world had all gone wrong. It turns out that today was “Dress Your Career Day.” The students had the chance to come dressed how they thought they would dress based on their current career choice. Something so simple had gone down the drain quickly.
The chance to dress up was not news for neither me nor my wife. Our daughter had told us all about it at dinner the night before. She told us exactly what she planned to wear. We asked her before bed if all of her clothes were set, “Yep.” As far as I understood, today would be a great day. She had this. Then the morning happened.
She came out wearing nothing close to the description provided the night prior. I asked what happened and received a long story that basically came out to be that a clothes thief came in the middle of the night and took everything. “I’m going to look horrible,” said a small voice from the dining room. I convinced her to eat and then we would attack. Lesson one, always prepare ahead of time to avoid disappointment.
I am happy to say that I, without knowing it, have fashion sense. I found a great shirt to match her jeans, pulled out one of my old ties, and accented it with her boots, a scarf, jean jacket, sun glasses, and sparkly hat. The day was saved! We had to take photos – both with and without the glasses. She chatted the entire way to school about how this would be her way of dressing as an adult. She couldn’t wait to get to school for her friends to see her. Just a little background, this mostly comes from Halloween. When she arrived at school with her costume, the other kids gathered around saying how much they liked her dress. We arrived and the excitement rose.
As we headed toward the building, she ducked down while passing the windows to keep the surprise. I opened the door and she went skipping into the room. The six or seven students were gathered around the table. I saw a soccer player, a business woman, an artist, and some student who decided not to participate. Our little one walked swaggered to the table. The others looked up and said hi then, immediately, the heads went back down to the table. Something really had their interest.
I watched our daughter’s face as she realized that the big hoorah she had expected would not happen. First the smile disappeared then the energy definitely dropped. She stood there for a bit not knowing what to do. After a couple of minutes, I felt as if I could see our talks running through her head. We often talk about not worrying about how others react. We talk about dressing for yourself and not for others. We have talked about the world not revolving around any one person. I could see her brain processing all of this. Then her smile came back and the energy level rose. Lesson two – be happy with who you are and do not depend upon others to make you happy. You control the first but not the second.
The final lesson for tonight is that you are never as important as you think. I enjoy my job. I work hard and long. I help out as many people as possible. The one cool thing is that the people I help are appreciative, and they tell me. Eventually this gets me to the point that I feel as if I cannot take a break and do anything outside of my job – come on, the world will stop. Well today, I did take a break. I had the pleasure to visit one of our elementary schools and read to a third grade class and then a second grade class. If you ever start getting too full of yourself, go sit in a room with 8 and 9 year olds. They will make you feel good, but not because of your job. They will just like you because you took time to be with them and talk with them. I get to do this two more times in the upcoming week. I cannot wait. I remember why I entered education.
As the weeks go on, I will continue to talk about what life teaches me. I just need to keep my eyes open as life continues to teach. What about you, what did life throw your way this week?
Thank you for meandering with me.