NoJoMo 18: Praise You

Working with kids can be frustrating and exhausting and defeating sometimes.  It can make you pull your hair out.  And give you a headache.  It can really try your patience, and sometimes you come home less patient with your own kids than you should be.  But…

You get to a day where you have a kid in the second grade, about seven.  She is obviously frightened of the water.  And for the first few weeks you have swim lessons with her she clings to the side of the pool like her very existence depends on it.  It’s all you can do to get her to walk across the pool, clinging to the side the whole time, looking lost and scared.

And you decide that the next time, you’ll get in the water with her and see if you can coax her away from the side.  And you do!  And not only that but you get her out in the middle, and sure she has her floaty things and her kick board and everything, but there she is, away from the side, feet off the bottom, floating and even kicking.  And she gets this huge smile on her face, and her eyes are all lit up and there is no fear there anymore, all you see is joy and she says, "This is so fun!"

I posted on Facebook that I thought Monsters Inc. had it right: That it wasn’t fear and screams that provided the best fuel but laughter and joy.

That, that look of joy and that smile and that light in her eyes, that is why I do this.  It makes it all worth it.  And it fuels my soul for a long time.

Videos!

There are a few songs that will always remind me of the time we spent in Iowa after that first summer together in Norway (and then traveling around Europe).  This song was huge on the alternative radio station in Des Moines that autumn and I still love this song.

 I haven’t heard this on in a while but man, this Fatboy Slim song is so cool.  And so is this video.  

The Foo Fighters is another band I need to do a whole entry on because I love them so.  This is not exactly my favorite song by them, but it is good song nonetheless.  But it was all over that fall and I always think of that time when I hear this song.

Zaphod