Softly. Flakes fall, seeking for cushion on which to land. Wanting. For lodging. Connection, attachment. In need of that which is found, only in community. Longing to be more than merely that singular one. Searching, in their spiralling descent, for the many. And when that final security of joining the multitude is realized, when that …
It’s little recess. I have maybe nine minutes to run to the washroom, grab a glass of water in the staff kitchen, and check my mailbox in the office. En route, I duck into an adjacent classroom to mine to make a quick phone call to a parent. The call is regarding a preference her …
Little voices, tiny hands. Baby hair still wisps, framing round faces. Wide-eyed. They move, and squirm, roll and tumble. And I try to quiet them, but they are alive with energy. Full of life. We read on the blue rug, I’ll Love You Forever. As I begin to form words on the tongue, I can …
In wake of the recent tragedy in Newtown, Conneticutt, U.S.A., there have been waves of anger and sorrow washing over us all. Young and old. Rich and poor. Believer and non-believer. Pain spares no one its icy grip; it holds us ransom with vice-like shackles. The world over, we are united in our grief. And …
We sit, huddled tightly together in the cramped space of a corner. The blinds are darkly drawn, the door is shut. Locked. Little bodies press in close together to the wall. I place my body as a barrier along the tips of their tiny feet, all the while smiling into anxious children’s eyes and modelling …
Driving down a street in Summerside, P.E.I. today, I realized that the way you drive says a lot about who you are and what you do. For instance, I was idling behind a vehicle driven by a woman who I could just tell was a teacher. We were both lined up at a crosswalk, and …
Ode to Joy. Or as it is written in my daughter’s MYC piano book, “Ode to Spider Fingers.” Which has gotten me wishing for a pair of sticky fingers instead so I could steal away to a deserted island somewhere in the Pacific and empty my mind into a lagoon of salty sea water. If …
An open letter to teachers, care-givers and parents of spirited children everywhere: Dear Caregiver, I am sorry my child lay on the floor today and refused to participate in your class. I also apologize that she further disregarded your implicit instructions pertaining to scheduled activities, not to mention more than once did exactly the opposite …
I am a kindergarten teacher. I have the unique privilege of teaching children who WANT to go to school. Children who look downcast when you tell them Saturday is a day off and that after Saturday is Sunday-another day away from school. Children who share that what makes them happy is ‘going to school’. Children …
I’m starting to think the new normal for me is crazy chaos. I woke up an hour past my alarm this morning. I woke with a start, bolting out of bed like a crazed woman at a red-tag sale. Catapulting myself pell-mell down the staircase and into the shower, where I had just enough time …
As a secondary piece to that last post, I thought I would follow up with what happened next…after the E/N/T specialist appointment. As I had been given the information that there was a problem, somewhere in THERE- just not necessarily with my voice box and vocal chords primarily, I left thinking that I might need …
What do you do when your livelihood- your means of employment- is wrecking your body? I am sitting in Dr. Camphos office waiting to see him for the first time ever. He is an ENT- Ear/Nose/Throat specialist. I look around the room, and see an ad stuck up on the wall behind me for Botox. …