~because I listened to a child~

September's song will soon begin to play and with record speed the year 2017 is 3/4 of the way done.  For the life of me, I must ask over and over again, "where does this time go to?" Once long ago, I was only 17 and the greatest thing on my mind was the wonder if I had enough tip money saved up from my job as a waitress to fill up the gas tank of my car for a Saturday night in Hutch with my friends.  Just yesterday, I was 40 years old and a teacher for only 20 years, raising up my little family of 3 children.  Now I am almost 62 and with all that I have in me, I'm still trying to run in the race called "life" and doing everything I can before crossing the finish line at the end of it all.

Much of my waking day is spent at school where I share my time with 11 young people who are just in the beginning stages of their lives here on earth.  I look at them and often times remember the little kid I used to be.  Their love of reading and writing stories was once and still is my love of it all.  Those struggles with math and science were truly once shared by a little girl named Peggy.  

I've been there and done that.
I know.
All too well.

Time goes so quickly during the course of any given school day.  In the beginning of my teaching career I didn't notice it as much, leastwise I guess I don't ever remember noticing it. But in the 8 years since I retired and returned quickly back to the classroom, it is very apparent that time is not standing still for me, nor is it standing still for you either.

In the fast pace of it all, teachers have to remember to get in every bit of academic time they can possibly squeeze in.  In our room there is never a moment that is wasted and surely not an hour when we are standing around questioning what we will do next.  The plan for the day is goal driven and as much as possible, we stick to it.  

I have found though that my favorite part of a hectic and fast paced 7 hours worth of school time is that moment in the day when in my mind and heart I say to myself, "STOP."  Cease talking at them in my incessant quest to get everything in before that last bell rings for the day. The very best time of the day is when I close my mouth and start listening to them and what they really have on their minds at that precise moment.  Surprisingly enough, it's not always about what the main idea and details of a story were about.  As a matter of fact, it's not always about anything related to the 2nd grade curriculum.  Rather when I really stop to listen to them for a change, it's about something else far more precious and lesson filled.

And they call it life.

Over the last 4 decades of my teaching career, I've been entertained by countless stories of what children have done with their families.  My ears have been the recipient of tales told about summer vacation or the excitement of waking up on Christmas morning.  I know some of the best ways ever to play a trick on a sibling, catch a fish using a hot dog for bait, pull teeth, and clean up a bedroom by putting everything in the bedroom closet.  I've also been saddened to hear of grandparents and even moms and dads who have passed on much too quickly, and been the giver of hugs when I found those children at their desks with tear filled eyes.  

Today is the 10th day of school and when I get there this morning there is so much to do. Before I know it, that 3:00 bell will ring and out the door they will disappear.  In the short span of slightly over 420 minutes, I hope to get everything done in the lesson plan book.  If I'm lucky, I can do it, but if for some reason I do not then I surely hope that the cause of it all can be attributed to one thing.

I was listening to a child.

This little boy traveled all over the world with his family while his father was in the Navy. When I saw him reading his book on the front porch after supper last evening, it did my heart good.  I hope that somewhere along the line, a teacher listened to a little guy named Mike when he had an important story to tell about life.