OCTOBER OPTIMISM

The snares and cares were miles away on this summer-like October Saturday, and for a short time...

• The PC was idle
• The uncut grass was just a nutritious feast for the creatures and would still be there on Sunday and Monday
• The government officials were frantically working out their differences and a solution was found
• The media ignored the jerks, the twerps, and the twerks....and honor, dignity, and talent were in the spotlight again
• Entertainment became entertaining again
• Kids ran and played sans an electrical outlet or battery
• Hard work was rewarded, no work had consequences 
• Cold, wind, floods, and snow just didn't matter
• Doctors and dentists fixed what was wrong, and if it 'weren't broke', it didn't get fixed
• As my wife sat next to me, our heads cleared preparing us for our next day of routine
• As my grownup little girl sat on the other side of me, I once again protected her from the cities and the highways
• The word tax, as a noun and as a verb, didn't exist
• Communication moved as slowly and gently as the ripples of the Chesapeake, paving the way for truth and destroying speculation
• Occasional face-to-face conversation was the new constant texting

...as I sat at the water's edge with my wife and daughter, I took the calm of the Chesapeake on a summer-like October Saturday afternoon and sprinkled it over the world, destroying haste, angst, complication, and hate...

Expect the Honest to Goodness Unexpected!

For an introductory lesson with a new group in one of my classes, I gave the kids a graphic organizer asking them about their families, their favorite subjects in school, their favorite books, their favorite things to do outside of school, and what their goals were.  The lesson was flawless. All the students were eager to talk about themselves and to hear a little bit about me. All was fine until the end when one of the boys shared that his goal was to stop picking his nose. I expected to hear a chorus of "Ewww!" after this one. Instead, the rest of the group showed him some support by saying, " Yea, that's a good one for you!" Then one of the group members looked at me and stated, "He really does need to make that his goal!" It just proves to me that even after fifteen years of being an at-home Dad to four kids of my own, and equal time in the education system, when I'm with kids, I need to expect the honest to goodness unexpected!