A Thomas Kinkade Kinda Day
As a public school teacher the weather forecast is a very important part of my morning. There is a constant struggle with the seasons, temperature and precipitation. I find myself mentally preparing for the worst in order to achieve the best.
There is so much to consider in the child/weather formula. A stormy morning brings an awareness of children standing at a bus stop with lightening approaching. Bundling up for cold means extra time stowing coats and gloves to begin the day and allowing minutes for finding missing mittens when preparing to return home. In and out of buildings is a challenge when the young delight in rain dancing but grown-ups respect the importance of warm and dry. A windy day means a very important note to parents might take flight, never to be seen again, or worse, travel beneath bus tires and become a terrible hazard. Weather is an ever changing variable. I don’t appreciate change!
As I list my climate concerns, I remind myself of the wonder of childhood. Children take delight in all things. When it rains they marvel at how it hits their face, how it sounds, how high it splashes and the polka-dot patterns it leaves on their jacket. When autumn leaves fall, children are keenly aware of the whispering breeze that set them waltzing. Feet shuffling through a leaf drift or stomping dry flora to crumbs is a symphony. Snow is the most amazing phenomenon on earth! It’s fluffy rain and blankets the world in pristine perfection. It’s as versatile as play dough, but self cleaning so as not to ruin the carpet! Children bask in the heat of sunshine too. More than just birds and bees experience giddy exuberance on a warm cloudless day.
I can wax poetic at length, but three days after a good ‘frog choker,’ all those little shoes that dried while being worn on little feet, begin to smell like a gym locker. Consecutive days of inside recess means every child has developed a strategy to enhance their odds of winning Candy Land.… Fun’s over. Bah Humbug!
One gray, drizzly morning I was going through my beauty rituals. A gentle tone from my phone meant a text message waited attention. The glowing screen said, “Good morning mommy, how are you?” I replied to my daughter away at college, “Yuck! It’s an inside recess day!” Moments later she responded, “Don’t be sad, pretend you’re in a Thomas Kinkade painting.”
Melissa, my daughter, held the promise of a beautiful new day. I was jealous of her mind and heart so free to feel the good. I suddenly realized, the wrinkles on my face might tell the age of my body, but the choice to see the world with childlike wonder was and always would be mine. I stepped out of my house and into that dreary day with a new spirit. Later, while walking my students across an alley from one building to another, they stopped as one child called, “Look at the rainbow.” I looked up. They looked down. In the middle of the street a school bus left a drop of oil. Now there was a circle of color where water and petrol met and refused to mix. Long moments passed as they marveled in the miracle of a rainbow in the road.
See the ugly and inconvenient, or see good. It’s a choice.
This holiday season I encourage you to choose a Christmas card state of mind. Reside in a world where the child born of a virgin, The Alpha and Omega, Prince of Peace, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, The Truth, The Way, The Life, is the promise of each new day.
Love,
Gretchen
