concise

This will be rather short, since it is 12:30 in the am, and I have to be up in about 5 hours (I get to sleep in for once)….

Something struck me the other day as I was at my second job, cleaning up the messes that people make.

When I was about 6 years old, my mother did something that I have never forgotten.  In kindergarten, around St. Patrick’s Day, we made little traps to try and catch a leprechaun.  It seems silly now, and as a teacher, I can see the purpose behind it.  Creating, planning, and carrying out a project on our own was a major step for a bunch of nuttier-than-squirrel-shit 6 year-olds.

I ended up taking mine home and trying to stay up all night to see if I could catch a leprechaun.  Obviously, being 6, I eventually fell asleep.  While I was sleeping my mother came in, tripped the trap, and left a small piece of green fabric with a tiny little note that said something to the effect of "you nearly got me!" in the smallest handwriting I have ever seen.

I was ecstatic.  I took it to class the next day for show and tell and was so proud.  I eventually went to the restroom and accidentally washed it down the sink – which to my 6 year old self was the same a someone kicking my dog and finding out that Santa wasn’t real all rolled up into one.

For some reason that particular memory bubbled to the surface the other night, and I just felt compelled to mention it.