Day 14 (but really 8) of 31: Stuck
Stuck. Seems to be the word of the day. Chicago is stuck on being winter (thanks snowstorm), which caused many cars to be stuck while driving to work. One of my little kindergarten loves is stuck on stories about Tigey (his stuffed animal tiger that he insists is his sibling). A fish is stuck between the tentacles of an octopus in our non-fiction book from the library. My sesamoid bone is a bit stuck when my toe tries to fully extend, which makes me feel a little stuck in terms of this (absurdly long) recovery. It’s technically day 14 of the Slice of Life challenge and I’m stuck on day eight (aka I haven’t been blogging). And lastly, I’m stuck on a song again…
You know you can’t keep the ground from shaking
No matter how hard you try
You can’t keep the sunsets from fading
You gotta treat your life like you’re jumping off a rope swing
Baby cause the whole thing’s really just a shot in the dark
You gotta love like there’s no such thing as a broken heart
You gotta love like there’s no such thing as a broken heart
So. Good. Right?! Old Dominion, you get me every time. That line “you can’t keep the sunsets from fading” spoke to me specifically today because one of my little loves who is still low in language was trying to describe something he knows how to do for our informational writing unit.
Me: “What is something you know how to do really well?”
Kiddo: “Look. Sun. Fall.” (as he points to his drawing of a person and the sun)
Me: “You know how to watch the sunset?” (Yes, I’m fluent in five-year old).
Kiddo (grinning from ear to ear): Nods yes.
This is why we teach. These are the moments we crave. Perhaps to the outsider, this kiddo is stuck in language. The way I see it, he’s more aware than most. How many five year olds, no scratch that. How many people would confidently consider themselves an expert on how to watch the sunset? If you had to write an expert list (as we call it), a top six list of things you know how to do really well, would you ever consider something as enchanting as a sunset? I certainly didn’t when I modeled my list during writer’s workshop. 1) Basketball 2) Yoga 3) Baking Caramel Yummies 4) **I actually can’t think of the fourth item I drew. HA! 5) Tying Shoes 6) Vacuum
Really? That is my expert list? The first three make a lot of sense. Tying shoes was only on my list because I had tied sooooo many that day and apparently it was on my mind. I actually don’t care that much about vacuuming. My expert list would look oh so different if I wasn’t so stuck on modeling ideas that had such specific directions. Leave it to the littles to peel off the layers of adulthood in which we sometimes get too stuck.
Yes, stuck might have been what snow-covered my day. As I sit here though, tucked under my cozy blankets, thinking about all the little loves who keep me unstuck, I can’t help but still play this song over and over again.
You know you can’t keep the ground from shaking
No matter how hard you try
You can’t keep the sunsets from fading
You gotta treat your life like you’re jumping off a rope swing
Baby cause the whole thing’s really just a shot in the dark
You gotta love like there’s no such thing as a broken heart
You gotta love like there’s no such thing as a broken heart