Favorite Things

I have a notebook that Adriane gave me three years ago. I started to write things in it that make me happy in February of 2009. Here's the first installment of 90:

• a sunrise in the desert
• a sunrise over snow
• a sunrise in the mountains
• a sunrise
• down comforters
• embarrassing moments that become funny stories
• watching a movie
• changing routes all of a sudden
• clean sheets
• coming into an attic that is warm
• rearranging furniture
• sending letters 
• getting letters
• making lists
• running faster

feeling better after feeling sick
peanut soup (Lachelle's version)
Schnapps
praying with an old friend
taking the bus
those moments right before falling asleep
freshly-brushed teeth
just-shaven legs
new jewelry
used bookstores
friend requests on Facebook
fields of daffodils
S.I.S. sisterhood
sauteing garlic and onions
ice cream

• comments on papers (in red pen)
• Jane Austen
• Robert Frost
• Langston Hughes
• Valentine's Day
• Ogden Nash
• sleeping until 8:30am
• coffee 
• canoli
• Campus Deli honey mustard
• fresh green mango with hot sauce and salt
• popcorn
• baking
• striking up a conversation
• making a joke only you get

making a joke everyone gets
hearing a joke
any joke
bathroom breaks
tea breaks
just calling to say "hi"
spring break
winter break
summer break
school time
weddings
road trips in the summer time
a hare-brained idea that becomes reality
a surprise Valentine
old, comfy jeans

• new shoes
• old, comfy shoes
• new jeans
• having a crush
• flirting
• praying in quiet
• praying in loud
• when someone remembers your birthday
• orange and pink
• tassles
• sweaters
• Chapstick
• honeysuckle perfume
• women's suffrage
• exact change

putting on makeup
Google desktop with the notes and the world clock
finishing a classic
understanding what Plato is talking about

driving to see my brother and dad

stopping at Sheetz

horses and buggies

foreign accents

local accents

saying "ya'll" on purpose

maps

killing a bug with your notebook in the middle of class to everyone's surprise

being read to aloud

reading aloud

memorizing poetry
 

Humility Born of Struggles: November

I have been holding my head above water. Although the coming of cold often chills my bones, even my heart, this November has left me no time to think of it. I feel more alive than ever. Sometimes, I have as much sunshine in my heart as mid-summer at Black Rock. It is a secret how the sun shines within me, when outwardly the world seems to have gone grey. I feel as though I have been called to rise to the occasion. I have a deep joy in doing so.

A few instances this month have crashed over my head, leaving me sputtering, speechless, and grateful for air. The biggest instance I don't feel free to write about, but here are a few much smaller ones.

• An email from a community member saying my floor's bathroom was not clean. It wasn't. Keeping the students accountable for cleaning has been one of my greatest struggles of the dorm. Many of the students have never been responsible for cleaning in their homes. Moms and maids take care of the cleaning. School is pressing; they don't think about the cleaning until I hound them. No wonder moms become known for nagging. Sure, you can give up the fight and clean it yourself. Total number of people that is helping: 0.

• A parent-teacher conference in which I had to acknowledge to the parents that I was not expecting enough of their son. I was making too many accommodations for his particular disabilities.

• A conversation with another teacher where I had to begin with an apology for being rude. She said she had just been on her way to see me. We sat down and she started by apologizing, telling me that she had been praying for me; she knew how difficult my job was, and the hardship of the first year of teaching. I set my part right, too. We prayed together.

• Many ungraded research papers. It's been three weeks.