I love my job

I came back to school today feeling overwhelmed and lost. We were away this weekend for a family emergency and our plane got in at 10pm last night. Other than crisis management planning for a substitute, I hadn't spent much time thinking about school over the weekend, and certainly had not put thought into my lessons.

This morning I woke up on the wrong side of the bed and even the nice Starbucks man who handed me coffee was irritating me.
Then I walked into one of my kindergarten rooms and my heart melted. One little boy looked at me and said,
"Come here Mrs. Lipstick, I want to give you a hug."
"How did you know I needed a hug?" I asked.
"I could just tell it."

Then another little girl handed me a bright red gift bag. She didn't speak so it took me a minute to realize she was giving it to me. After checking the tag to be sure it was truly intended for me, I opened the bag and found a beautiful porcelain kitten with bright pink fur that only a kindergartner could have picked out. I am a sucker for teacher presents. I have a wide collection of cherished porcelain items purchased from the dollar store. I'm sure anyone coming into my office questions my sanity when they see the small display, but to me it's full of love.

Later in the day I looked up from a reading group to see a child 100% tangled in the listening center cords. I'm not sure how she did it since she's not a child to do such a thing on purpose. Though normally I don't like anything to distract from Gilbert the Pig, this image made me smile the rest of the day.

The rest of the day had its ups and downs and now I am certainly ready for a nap. I'm still overwhelmed with the work I have to catch up on, but it's those small little times that make me realize I could never do any other sort of job.