This one is from the Mom Files: I was helping in my daughter's classroom and another mom brought in her daughter's forgotten lunch. The daughter accepted the lunch bag, walked to the tub where the class keeps the lunchbags until lunchtime, gently placed her bag on top, and pushed it down into the tub with all her might.
My mouth probably dropped open a bit and I waited for the speech I would have given about smashed sandwiches, chips reduced to crumbs and respect for other people's things. The other mom gave her daughter a genuine smile (hiding a laugh, perhaps) and simply said, "Perfect!" Her daughter gave her a winning smile and a kiss and went back to class with a spring in her step.
I think about that exchange a lot. In the grand scheme of things, what is a smashed sandwich? Yet how often do we get hung up on the little things to "teach" our co-workers, employees, or family things "they need to know"? We all know to choose our battles, but what about our teaching moments? Sometimes there is another day to learn a lesson. Sometimes there is a better time to prove we are smart and benevolent teachers. Sometimes, people just need to hear, "Perfect!" and go on about their day.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Happy New Year!
Plenty of people I know are saying, "Good riddance!" to 2010. I feel hesitant to label the year a bad one, despite all of the seemingly negative things that happened. I was shocked to look over a review of all that was contained in 2010: continued economic struggle, political upheaval, war, plane crashes, Wikileaks, the oil spill, Haiti's earthquake, the rescue of the Chilean miners, Sandra Bullock's heartbreak, Tiger Woods transgressions... We move so quickly from catastrophe to scandal and back that a year can become a blur.
My moods are so often predicated on the calendar. Every September I begin to regret living in Arizona as the rest of the country looks for changing leaves and breaks out the sweaters while we continue sweating. I decorate for fall and start to get excited for Christmas. Life gets cozier and cozier as the weather finally cools. We start eating soup and thinking about the meaning of life. As we move closer to the end of the year, it all gets, well, heavy, as we listen to emotional songs and think about our relationships and all of the people that are meaningful to us. Christmas is heavily spiritual, of course, and reviewing the year and planning for the new one are reflective experiences.
By the time the New Year comes I am ready to get rid of the cozy: open the windows, dust everything, give me freshness, trade cinnamon for citrus! The year is new and fresh and clean and stretched before me like a blank canvas or an unwritten page. By spring I'll be longing for flowers and then the beach and evenings that never seem to end. Before I can even wash off all the sunscreen, it will be time to think about apples and the rest of the country in sweaters.
The years change, the news changes, the daily grind changes, I change. But there remains a certain comfort in the predictable mood shifts. Though 2010 is already a blur, it has left me with a certain satisfaction that life is progressing as it should. Everything is okay and will continue to be so, even when the world seems crazy. Life is at once personal and collective as we all turn toward 2011 with hope for a happy and prosperous year.
My moods are so often predicated on the calendar. Every September I begin to regret living in Arizona as the rest of the country looks for changing leaves and breaks out the sweaters while we continue sweating. I decorate for fall and start to get excited for Christmas. Life gets cozier and cozier as the weather finally cools. We start eating soup and thinking about the meaning of life. As we move closer to the end of the year, it all gets, well, heavy, as we listen to emotional songs and think about our relationships and all of the people that are meaningful to us. Christmas is heavily spiritual, of course, and reviewing the year and planning for the new one are reflective experiences.
By the time the New Year comes I am ready to get rid of the cozy: open the windows, dust everything, give me freshness, trade cinnamon for citrus! The year is new and fresh and clean and stretched before me like a blank canvas or an unwritten page. By spring I'll be longing for flowers and then the beach and evenings that never seem to end. Before I can even wash off all the sunscreen, it will be time to think about apples and the rest of the country in sweaters.
The years change, the news changes, the daily grind changes, I change. But there remains a certain comfort in the predictable mood shifts. Though 2010 is already a blur, it has left me with a certain satisfaction that life is progressing as it should. Everything is okay and will continue to be so, even when the world seems crazy. Life is at once personal and collective as we all turn toward 2011 with hope for a happy and prosperous year.
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