Red Velvet Wisdom

Somehow, Joy and I both have entered professions dealing with children.   I have taught special education in the same small town for many years, and Joy works at a children’s psychiatric facility.

At some point in college, I was told never to say “I love kids,” as a reason for wanting to teach.  Apparently interviewers hate that because it’s considered corny and trite.  I can’t imagine another or better reason for wanting to work with kids, because if you don’t have any love for kids, it will get old quickly.   Joy claims to hate children, but we all know that deep down under her hard candy shell she loves them, otherwise she wouldn’t work as hard as she does for them.

Do we love it everyday? Heavens no.  Sometimes I want to gnaw my arm off just to distract myself from what is really going on in front of me.   Joy just drinks a lot.  Kidding!!!!!  She doesn’t, but the stress of caring for kids will surely make you think about it.  But for all the times we are both so stressed we literally cry, there are other times that make what we do worth it.

I will never forget hearing the voices of 500+ children recite the pledge of allegiance and sing my country tis of thee on 9/11/01 while tears rolled down the faces of their teachers.  Joy has been known to spend a holiday or two with her clients just so they can have some interaction while they have to be away from their family.

The excitement in a child’s eyes when a holiday is approaching is priceless.  It doesn’t really matter what the meaning is behind the holiday, the parties, candies, and arts and crafts they get to make get them in the spirit of whatever season is going on at the time.  The art projects that parents keep and store for years are some of the most fun to prepare.  Our mother still has some of the arts and crafts we made what seems like a million years ago, and I couldn’t resist snapping some pictures of art in progress at my school from this week.

Since Valentine’s Day is all about love, I wanted to share a little something that I am passionate about with the hopes that you too love what you do as much as we do.  Happy Valentine’s Day!

Friday, February 12th, 2010, 7:23 am   |   Uncategorized  |  RSS feed Comments and pings are currently closed.