Bucket List

So I fully realize this is my third post in a row about something or other that happened at school. Don't worry, I won't make a daily habit of it; I wasn't planning on writing a teaching blog or anything. But kids do say the darndest things. Here's a conversation I had today:

Kid: "My binder is broken."
Me: "Ok, I'll put it on my to-do list to find you another one."
Kid: "You mean your bucket list?"
Me: "What do you think a bucket list is?"
Kid: "Well, people like to keep lists in buckets."
Me: "No, a bucket list is stuff you want to do in your life. A to-do list is something you have to do. No offense, but getting you a new binder isn't really on my bucket list."
Kid: "Oh..."
Me: "It would be cool if people kept lists in buckets though!"
Kid: "Yeah."

I almost regretted telling him the actual definition of a bucket list.

Do you believe in MAGIC?

First off, I'd just like to say that this is my 31st post. That means I have been doing this for about one month! Success! I'm pretty impressed that I've been keeping up for this long. It helps to have all of you readers out there, counting on me, looking for my posts each day :). Someone IS out there reading this...right?? At the very least, I have the illusion. That's a pretty great segue to my moment of the day.

The 3rd graders went to see a play of Cinderella today. I didn't attend the trip, but I heard it was a big hit. When they returned, I decided to read them the story of Cinderella to see how it compared. They had a lot of fun explaining the ins and outs of both versions.

One student said, "The play didn't have magic in it, but the story you read us did." I was confused. I asked if in the play, Cinderella's tattered dress became a ballgown, and if the pumpkin became a coach, etc. The students said yes, they did.

"But we know how they did it," the student insisted. "Because they told us after the show that there was really a hole cut in the stage, and that's how they did it." We then had a really interesting conversation about if there was or wasn't magic in the play.

Can something be magical even if you understand it?

Eat Healthy! Michelle Obama!

We have a fresh fruit and vegetable program at my school. Three days a week, the kids get to sample fresh fruit or veggies during homeroom. It's been pretty interesting. I have a 6th grade advisory, and some of them are definitely more game than others to try the more obscure vegetables like kohlrabi and parsnips. Some of them didn't actually know what a strawberry was. It's very revealing. Well, today, we had a standard mixed veggie pack, and one student offered to hand them out. Usually, this student is rather sour, not particularly helpful, and pretty down. However, today, she was extremely cheery. As she handed out each veggie pack, she kept saying, "Eat healthy! Michelle Obama!" I thought it was so inspiring that the First Lady has even reached my 6th graders. Even if it's a fad, what an amazing fad that would be! Whatever gets them to eat healthy; the more power to them!

The Dog Days are Over

Today was just one of those days. I awoke really hoping for a snow day - or at least a delay. The day just went downhill from there. Everyone and everything irritated me. Then, I had my moment in ballet tone tonight. I was grumping to myself that I couldn't wait for the class to be over - I was really struggling, my friend was killing it beside me, and I was realizing way too late that I should have waited until after class to eat that last piece of my mother's amazing cheesecake - when the teacher told us to get into a downward dog pose to stretch. No big deal, right? Well, it has been a pretty big deal for me to balance on my hands and feet as of late. I have become rather accident-prone in the past couple of years. First, I slipped and fell on the ice, breaking my right wrist. Last spring, cleaning up my classroom, I slipped and fell off of a student desk, and broke my left wrist. Seriously, who does that? Then, trekking in Nepal, I fell and sprained the already broken left wrist. So I've been avoiding all exercises, gym classes, or yoga classes that involved any kind of wrist weight-bearing activities. However, tonight, when the teacher told us to get into the downward dog, I just went for it. At that exact moment, Florence and the Machine's "Dog Days Are Over" started playing, and I realized that I was doing the exercise pretty much pain-free.

The moon followed me home

As a kid, I remember loving when we would drive at night on road trips. Whether it was one of my parents or my grandmother, I would feel so safe and secure as I curled up in the backseat, drifting in and out of sleep. As I blinked my eyes open and shut, I would often catch sight of the moon. I was constantly amazed that the moon always seemed to be following me home. Of course, as I got older, I realized that the moon wasn't actually moving at all, though think I always preferred the myth to the reality. Today, on my long bus ride home, I was comforted, because although I don't always feel so safe and secure on the Megabus, at least the full moon was following me home.

By the way, readers, as a follow-up to my "Green Thumb?" post, check out my amaryllis now!

Walkin' After Midnight

Let me walk you through my favorite moment of my day. Picture this: at home at the parents' house, snow outside, a crackling fire inside, dad and bro in the kitchen preparing delicious food, cats and dog slinking around trying to avoid each other, mom and grandma attempting to put together a complex jigsaw puzzle, Patsy Cline's "Walkin' After Midnight" playing on Pandora, dad dancing around the kitchen singing along, mom and grandma laughing at dad singing along. It was pure perfection.

Julie, Do Ya Love Me?

I had the bright idea to catch the 3:20 bus to DC, in hopes of beating some rush hour traffic. Naturally, I timed it just perfectly with the freshly falling snow, and let’s just say what should have been a two and a half hour trip turned into more than a four hour trip. So, standing out in the snow, I tried to hail a number of cabs before one actually picked me up. I was distracted – trying to make sure I had everything, still recovering from the school day, trying to check my email on my phone, etc. Normally, I always talk to cab drivers ( I’ve had a number of interesting conversations), but today I had my blinders on. Well, my blinders were no match for Dominic, a cab driver who has been driving Philly cabs for 30 years. He immediately started chatting, and lifted my spirits up with his positivity and charm. When he asked for my name, and I said it was Julie, he immediately said, “Oh, like the song!” I told him that I had never heard of any songs that mentioned my name. “No, Julie, do ya love me – Google it on that fancy phone of yours!” Sure enough, I Googled it, and it turns out that in 1970, Bobby Sherman sang this awesome cheesy song called, “Julie, do ya love me.” Dominic then assured me that nothing but good things were going to come my way because now I had my song, and he was full of good vibes for my life. Yes, he actually said “good vibes”. Of course, upon exiting the cab, the snow was really coming down, and I had to wait for 25 minutes in the cold for the bus to show up. But it was okay. I was listening to my song, and thinking of good vibes. That kept me plenty warm.