i'm sure this won't come as much of a shock to you, but i happen to really freakin love valentine's day. the first valentine's day memory i have comes from my first grade classroom. we decorated shoe boxes to look like hippos and i was utterly charmed. as a 6 year old i was thinking, "ok so i don't have to ask strangers for candy on cold wisconsin october evenings, i get to wear all my favorite colors (pink, white and red) AND we put goodies and love notes into a HIPPO!?" sold. i'm in. another one bites the dust, smirks hallmark. through the years some of the best memories i have are from the first two weeks of february, wherin my gracious squad celebrates both my birthday and valentine's day. after i began teaching, valentine's day became an opportunity for me to share two of my favorite things with my students: handwritten love notes and candy. i believe the most powerful expression of love is written prose. it requires thought, dedication, sincerity and wit. i've been writing letters for a long time and nothing brings me as much poetic pleasure as writing notes that contain loving musings about the people who are most important to me. again, hallmark is eating this shit up. anyway, to me, valentine's day is about celebrating love in all its forms. today in kindergarten, some of those forms weren't as lovely or pretty as i hoped they'd be when i drove to school this morning. first of all, the mornings in k are kind of a cluster. 25 un-caffeinated but highly motivated tiny humans entered into our room feeling some type of way as i bustled around attempting to keep everything organized. (hi, i'm laura and i'm a micromanager. is there a support group for us?) cue church! always an exciting time for my class as we sit in the VERY front where we can cause the most distractions for both the priest along with anyone unlucky enough to be sitting close to us. (we do BRING IT with the hymns though.) in my 27 years i have never had vomit be a part of my valentine's day celebrations but i gotta say, when my kid projectiled today it really spiced up the homily and the congregation. and the good lord must have known how much i'd enjoy it because he sent more in the form of another up-chucker not 20 minutes later! fun times at the el royale. we returned to class only slightly traumatized by the eventful mass only to have, you guessed it, 2 more kids drop like flys! with two absences from the start, my class count has now dropped from 25 to 19 and everyone is wondering who is going to hurl next. the tensions were running high and i think we were all nervously sweating a little. or maybe that was just me... back to the drama! lunch comes and goes without incident (praise jesus, because it was nacho day). and although i'm fairly confident i was slightly blacked out, we somehow manage to make it to 2:00 pm which means it's party time! now, i didn't want to give a bunch of kids who could literally lose their shit any minute cookies and juice, would you? would anyone!? but i did, because LOVE DAY, DAMMIT! i was full on clark griswold with the eggnog losing his ever loving mind at the end of christmas vacation. we were going to watch charlie brown's valentine and g'dangit we were going to like it! 3:00 pm rolled around proving miracles really do happen and god really does love me. and as i sent my littles away with a donut eraser i had to remind them multiple times not to eat, i was left in my quiet vomit-smelling classroom reflecting on the shit storm of a day. i mentioned earlier that valentine's day is about celebrating love in all its forms. today, love took the form of my dear friend putting out the nasty sawdust vomit catcher in the middle of mass. love took the form of caring for a child with a high fever, crying for no other reason than he's cold. love took the form of 19 little people recognizing their teacher was spent and just chilling the eff out. love took the form of a cozy blanket in a quiet corner waiting for mom or dad to come getcha. love took the form of rubbing a back gently, as they become ill into a trashcan that will simply never be the same again. love took the form of gracious fellow teachers and friends checking in and helping out. love was all over the place today. it just looked different than i had expected. as i sit here now my feet are swollen, my back aches and i've got under boob sweat like you wouldn't believe. but oh how full my heart is. and how happy and thankful i am to have been around to celebrate another valentine's day. you could say i'm almost as happy as a 6 year old with a hippo box of candy. almost... happy valentine's day, friends. i hope you witness love in all its forms today. ...just maybe with less vomit. xo
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