Tag: peace

Unconditional Love…

.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Warm eyes whispering

with unimaginable

love within the soul.

I have posted often about my Poodle Baron. However, my Labrador mix was feeling left out. This is our dog Dale, a lover of tummy scratches and a contemplator of kitty cats. 🙂

Teacher

.Reading time 3 minutes.

To live a magical life, I feel I must have a purpose. And when I think of purpose, I think of my chosen profession.  Actually,  it is my passion.

I am a teacher.  A Kindergarten teacher to be exact. I understand that I am one of thousands, maybe millions of teachers in this world.  And I understand that in and of itself, this is not special.  In fact, it is one of the things that makes my life “normal.”  

But… It is special to me because it gives me purpose.  Every morning I have a reason to get up and be inspired to live a full life.  A life that I can give to my students.  

What an honor it is to guide these young children in their learning and to allow them to blossom. To let them know it is ok to ask questions. To make mistakes. And to get back up and try again.

When I teach, I am really creating a community where my young students learn to build relationships and to share and collaborate ideas.  We learn that we all have strengths and we all have weakness and that we can overcome problems together.  It is in this classroom that children learn how to work in a group, and many times, this is where they make a choice to love learning.  

To be the person who guides them is important.  I love this work. I love to create activities that my students can build upon and make their own. I love speaking to children at their level. Sometimes our heart to heart conversations are silent, with only our eyes talking and a small hand reaching out to grab mine.  Sometimes our communication is through pictures, especially if language is difficult.  

But we all learn and we all grow. This would include me as I become humbled at the wisdom of simplicity.  I feel as if I forget my wisdom and these tiny souls show me once again what is important…

To ask many questions.

To make friends with everyone.

To live in the moment

And to burst into song when I feel like it. 

So really it is a give and take.  I guide the young people in how to sound out words and count to 100, but they take me back to my true self.  A person who views life as beautiful and magical.

Words by Magical-Normal Life. Image by my school district.

Christmas

.Reading time 3 minutes.

I love Christmas! But Christmas brings me heartache. Even now, 29 Christmases later, I can still feel the tugging of grief’s influence on the corners of my heart. Perhaps I am feeling the sadness of years past because I have witnessed many of my friends deal with heartbreaking loss this year. Or it could be the fact that our dear 2 year old Poodle is slowly losing his battle to a wicked case of meningitis. I can’t explain the mysteries of grief or its stubborn hold on my life. But I can look back at my 29 years of experience and see how I have changed. These, of course, are my thoughts and experiences of grief. We are all different and my hope is that each person can find a nugget of peace or hope from my experience.

Twenty-Nine years later I no longer:

  • Am paralyzed by the raw, exposed pain.
  • Am covered with a blanket of depression.
  • Wake up in the middle of the night so nauseated with grief that I throw up for hours.
  • Am Sick all of the time.
  • Dread every anniversary or holiday.
  • Am overcome with grief every time an airplane crashes.

I still…

  • Miss my family everyday.
  • Cry
  • Feel lonely, especially during holidays or special life events.
  • Talk to them.
  • Am deathly afraid to fly in a small plane.
  • Am fearful of dying in an accident.
  • “Freak out” during snow storms.

However…

  • I understand how precious life is.
  • I realize I can survive whatever life has to offer.
  • I have true love.
  • I have children and grandchildren to love and cherish.
  • I have some insight into how pain and tragedy affects others, including my students.
  • I have a meaningful purpose in my career as an educator
  • I have dear friends and adopted family.
  • I feel a deep connection with nature and the spiritual.
  • I am still fully alive and love this wonderful magical normal life I live.

If you have recently lost a loved one, please know I am thinking of you during this difficult holiday season. May you find the glimpses of love and hope that will eventually fill your life once again. If you lost your loved one years ago, please know I am thinking of you during this difficult holiday season. May you hold in your hearts the sweet glimpses of Christmases past.

Words by Magical-Normal Life. Image taken by Grandpa.