I ran into a friend today who asked how life was going now that I’m back to teaching full-time.
My rambling reply ended with, “it’s just tough to be stretched so thin.”
She knew what I meant; she’s in a similar boat —small kids at home, a house to manage, childcare hiccups, planning impactful lessons, conferencing with all the students, mentoring younger colleagues, and so on, and so on.
These days it doesn’t take long for me to launch into a list of my woes. My shoulders are heavy. My brain is on overload. Being a full-time mama and a full-time educator is no joke.
But tonight, I felt a ray of sunshine.
After an evening of making muffins with the kids, our four-year-old asked me to help him create an “idea box” out of the baking mix container (no, I do not know what an idea box is; he’s four and vague on details). He used his creation to deliver the aforementioned baked goods to the rest of the family (this further confused me… wait, it’s an idea box slash serving tray?). Then, as I sat on the patio watching my husband and our five-year-old play a very entertaining game of “bat-and-wiffleball-diving-catch-ESPN-Top10-Plays-of-the-Day” (yes, that is what they call this game; these members of the family are extra heavy on details), an actual ray of sunshine poked through the gray clouds and landed right on my face.
It occurred to me then — there is so much to be grateful for, an adoring husband, the sweetest kids, terrific students, and kind-hearted colleagues. I’ve heard wise folks say that we should talk more about our blessings than our burdens. So, in the spirit of their wisdom, I hereby declare that to be my goal — to focus on the many, many rays of sunshine in my life, to center my thoughts and to focus my words on all of the good things in life.
I hope you, too, can find the rays of sunshine — minute by minute, day by day. Keep up the good work, friends. We’re in this together.
Lindsay