My Birthday – 20!

Today is one of those days in my life that I never want to forget. The smiles on the kids faces, the loud singing, their gifts and cards, and the thousands of pictures.

When I woke up this morning, I was excited. I curled my hair, wore a cute headband, and chose to be happy, regardless. It worked for a while. We even had my favorite breakfast: cream of wheat with cloves.

But by the time I had reached school, I was discouraged. I knew that although it was my birthday, it would be different. How is it that I always assume that different means bad?

I was missing my family and the pictures of them scattered throughout my Bible didn't help. I had to work hard to fight back tears during the teachers' meeting. A quick walk around the building and some hugs along the way cured me. I would just pretend that it wasn't my birthday and then the day wouldn't dissappoint me. And I played this game for almost an hour. I just eliminated all expectations.

I had my 6th grade class first and as I walked to the classroom I said a quick prayer. I couldn't handle a repeat of Thursday's class. When I got to the door it was locked, I knocked and heard the kids running around and whispering. After the class went quiet, the door opened. Inside sat the sweetest looking class all sitting with their hands folded on their desks. Before long they were all singing a loud rendition of "Happy Birthday." And then another song and another. They crowded around me holding me tight. Then they pulled out juice and a large pan of cornbread/cake. We sat and ate laughing and talking quickly in a foreign language. Thankfully I had thought to bring my camera and I now have hundreds of adorable pictures of my students. Even my most difficult student who loves to ignore me was not far behind the others. He wanted his fair share of pictures with me as well. By the time the excitement had died down, we just learned some birthday words and made cards. It was great. For once I had the perfect balance with my students. Teacher, but friend.

Then I had 5th grade and they were equally excited. They had many presents for me. Plastic roses and chocolate and stuffed animals. So sweet. Yessica made me a large bowl of Jello/gelatina which I ate with a smile. The random bugs were just decorations. :-)

It feels like the day should be over by now, but the fun just keeps going. Thanks to Kayla’s classes, I randomly get mobbed by lots of kids with cards.

It's been a different day. There hasn't been cake, but I’ve had homemade food from my students with extra love. No large presents, but instead hand-me-down toys that the kids gave up for me. No fancy Hallmark cards, but instead adorable construction paper cards in Spanglish. It seems pretty obvious that this birthday beats all the others. :-)

Happy twenty years to me!