Celebrating a Little Late (But Celebrating, Nonetheless)

My friend Ruth Ayres has created a wonderful spot for sharing moments from your week. She even has  a page to give you all the details you need to know about sharing your own celebrations. So head  on over and see what everyone else is celebrating. 

 Reasons I'm late to the Celebration Link Up:

1. Stomach flu since Tuesday afternoon ( I didn't slice either). 

2. State Contest Week for speech

3. A rough day at contest

4. Tired

5. Grading

6. Procrastination

7. Couldn't find the celebrations

And then I started to think

And they were there

Those celebrations were hiding out, waiting for me to be ready to appreciate them.....

This week I wrote letters of recommendations for several of my senior speech kids. And this gave me a couple of things to celebrate. The first, kids who asked me back in the fall to write theirs.  So nice to write letters when there really is no deadline. And the second, well, first I have to be honest.

As many high school teachers will tell, I keep copies of all the letters I write. And every year, when a kid asks me to write a letter, I think about what former student they are most like. I use that letter as a template for the new one.  Of course, I add personal info about the student, personal connections, etc, but the form tends to be the same.  And with each letter I wrote, I began thinking about these students and our years together. Each and every one of them holds a special place in my heart. It was fun looking back at the growth they have had.

Friday, I wrote a letter for a student who is so unique, that there was no letter to fall back on. I had to start from scratch. And no letter will do her justice. I wanted to send video of her dancing with abandon during a "Don't Be Boring" Friday in Drama class. I wanted to send the brochure she wrote in Creative Writing about her ideal school. I wanted them to listen to her tell stories. And the whole time I wrote, I heard this song in my head:

As I said before, Saturday was a rough day at contest. I felt like I had failed the kids. It was hard for me to be positive when I got home, hard to find positives. But again, there were there

• singing boys on the bus ride down
• parents who drive down to see their kid perform for 5 or 10 minutes
• students supporting each other
• great attitudes
• The "let's move on to individual" attitude
• Seeing growth from one year to the next
• A student who will be a leader next year, although he doesn't know it now

So, you see, even when it seems like you had a crappy week and there was nothing to celebrate, there really is. You just have to peel away the crap and look.

Aloha!