five finds friday (there’s beautiful bags and blast from the past soda and kind students)

Hello Friday, my old friend.

I don’t want to talk about any words that start with Q or C.

There were some gloriously pleasant spring days this week. I’m grateful we’re not jumping directly into scorching days. I think South Carolina often does that so I am thankful that there’s been a tiny delay in that this April.

funny

This week there was a meteor shower and the kids and I stayed outside lying on the trampoline in the dark for a long time, watching the night sky and joking around.

London kept taking terrible photos with the flash and without the flash.

The results were pretty amusing.

fashionable

I’ve been talking about this guy’s work for two years now.

So long, in fact, that I think he and I are now basically friends. (I mean, we’ve shared stories of ludicrous dates gone south – so there’s that bond. He wins, by the way.)

(I wrote this article here about John Walker.)

Anyway, he has some fabulous bags and wallets – and of course, those flip flops with the best straps, even for a non flip-flop loving girl like myself.

I mean, just look at these …..

And this one.

And these flip flops.

And this wallet slash clutch.

And he ships. So – there you go. You can feel good about his products – he’s designing them, he’s using sustainable materials, he cares deeply and he’s a likable good fella.

Plus, man, after touching these and feeling those amazing textures, you just know you need them in your life.

You can order your own here. I promise I’m not making any sort of commission if you purchase anything from John, but I just love his products.

faithful

A lot has felt unpredictable. Out of control. Unknown.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the verses in the Bible that talk about how we should say “if the Lord is willing” and “if the Lord allows” when we talk about our plans and our hopes and our ideas for the future.

And, while that has always been true, I guess it has never felt quite so true to me as it does right now.

If the Lord is willing, I hope we can get together for July Fourth this year. If the Lord allows, we plan to begin this certain class in the fall. God willing, we’ll drive out to Colorado.

The plans we make, they have always been out of our hands and directly in the hands of God. But now, more than any other time I have known, this is true of even the simplest plans – of grocery store trips and employment. Of bills paid and health retained.

If the Lord is willing ……..

flavorful

I don’t care for soda. I never have. It’s the carbonation that gets me.

But I stopped by a little local store to pick up milk this week and I saw a bottle in the cooler that took me right back to Virginia and a country convenience store called Jed’s and a younger brother who spent more dollars than he and I would ever want to know on purchasing stockpiles of this particular soda.

So I purchased a glass bottle of SunDrop in honor of Douglas and I brought it home to introduce the kids to Uncle Douglas’ former addiction.

feels

I didn’t sign up to be an online teacher, just like a billion other teachers out there wading through this current ocean.

And yet. Here we are.

And I’ll let you know – I’m over Zoom. Yes, I’m grateful for its ability to allow me to keep communicating with this class that I love.

But I’d far rather be in real life with these kids and interacting in more meaningful ways than across a glitchy screen with lag times and delays and volume issues.

However, we’re making it work, just like everyone else.

This week, I had the sweetest reminder of my who and why of teaching.

I actually care deeply about words and writing and literature and discussion, and I could chat about those for a long time if there were many people who cared to listen. But even more than that, I care about walking along beside students and helping to lead them into caring about words and writing and literature and discussion.

No one anywhere teaches for the pat on the back – or the paycheck. But isn’t it uplifting to our spirits when we get one anyway? (The pat on the back, not the paycheck. Although, shoot – we like a paycheck too.)

This week I received the kindest ecouraging note in the mail from one of my students, along with this lovely hand crafted bracelet in my exact favorite colors!

Let’s face it, elementary school teachers get all the love. More frequent notes and treats and affection from their students. High schoolers typically just don’t roll that way.

And that’s alright.

But this was a delightful surprise!

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