Dear Jen,

Several weeks ago, as you were perusing the candy aisle at Target to find little truffles  for a little gift for a little friend (well…he’s actually not that little…), you saw the little tag - 2 for $5 - on these chocolate bars.

And maybe, just maybe, you thought about Future Jen and how on a Monday, having had a rough morning and having forgotten her lunch bag with little snacks for comfort and energy, she would wish wish wish for something rich and delicious. Shaking her head, sure she’d only find index cards and dried out dry erase markers, she’d have low expectations as she pawed through her drawers.

But there they would be! Two beautiful, delicious, decadent, dark chocolate bars!
Two squares would offer some relief and reprieve, some solace and sustenance for the soul. And how now-comforted Jen, would wrap it all back up, and tuck it away for future Future Jen for when she’s needing a little bit of love.

Jen, you rock.

Love,
Former Future Jen

Teaching stories: I love introducing “All Summer in a Day” to my students because it invokes deep thinking and even deep feelings. Students have been writing a new ending to the story and then creating storyboards to share a graphic representation of narrative elements in the original story blended with their original ending. They’re coming along!

Advisory morning with our students included the honor roll assembly and field morning. It could not have been a more beautiful fall day in the Land of Enchantment - that perfect blue sky and crisp air. But I’ll admit this - I was grumpy in the morning. Tired and morose, to be more accurate. And I thought I’d just kind of make it through the day and be done with it. However….the kids. They’re fun and hilarious and they’re kind. I hadn’t seen them since Monday so it was good for us all to be together again. And then, there was 4-Square. Oh, I do love me a good game of 4-Square. At first, I jumped into a game with a short line, quickly to discover why it was a short line to play in this particular court. There was a teacher monitoring and had given rules to pass the ball gently from under the ball and not to spike the ball.

In 4-Square.

Yeah, I was out of there and moved to the game alllllll the way down at the end. Another teacher and I set up camp with some phenomenal kiddos and I had 40-minutes of bliss - laughing, moving, out in the sun, surprising the kids with my mad, mad 4-Square skills, and having fun together.

It’s been a long 2 weeks in my world after finding my aunt in her home after she’d fallen and had been down for 50 hours without food, water, or connection. A long two weeks during which I missed 6 days of school and that finds me in a new role as caretaker as my aunt has moved in with us for the foreseeable future. I’ve been overwhelmed, tired and sad.

But yesterday morning, by golly, there was 4-Square and with red cheeks, blood pumping, and the sound of laughter all around me I felt alive and joyful.

I felt better.