Category: Alicia Writes

Thankful Thursday #21

On By Alicia McCauleyIn Thankful Thursdays3 Comments

This week I’m thankful for…

  • my grade level partners who always have my back
  • parents of current and former students who intrinsically seem to know when I need to hear that I’m doing a good job
  • our school librarian for saying I’m the perfect teacher for my most challenging student
  • my husband for encouraging me to always listen to my heart when it comes to doing what is best for children
  • my sixth grade student TA who looked at our dragonfly nymphs and said “Isn’t it amazing that something so ugly turns into something so beautiful?”  Exactly.
  • pedicures
  • dates with my mom
  • The Sound of Music, which always makes me tear up at least a little, especially at the lyric “I go to the hills when my heart is lonely.”
  • reading solely for the pleasure of it
  • lazy Saturdays when I read nap and Terry watches baseball naps, too
  • warm rain that compels Terry to usher me outside to smell it
  • the small window each week wherein all the laundry is washed and put away and the laundry hamper is empty
  • walking home from church under a sky of thunderheads that held off the rain long enough for me to make it home
  • the little boy who brought his skateboard in as his “Mostest special thing, ever, in the world.  Ever.”
  • my darling former student who brought her bunny by after school so I could “finally meet him”.  Henry the Bunny is now my favorite bunny.  Although chocolate bunnies are a close second.
  • this clip from 365grateful.com

Snoring

On By Alicia McCauleyIn The Junk Drawer4 Comments

You didn’t used to snore.  You used to sleep in silent stillness, so much so that I’d hold my hand in front of your mouth to make sure you were breathing.  You used to joke that you slept like you were dead.

And then came the time when you stopped sleeping, the year when you wrestled demons and wished you were dead.  You wrestled in the harsh light of day and every dark, lonely night.  Life was hard and there was no rest for you, no sleep to ease your mind.  My sleep was punctuated with nightmares, nightmares that continued into my waking hours.

Those were dark days when we clawed our way out of the pit, only to fall back in and try again the next day.  And the next day.  And the next.  We fought hard for our life together, fought hard to hang onto love.  And light.  And hope.  My prayers were fervent, urgent pleas for life over death.  We clung to God.  We clung to each other.  We clung for dear life.

After months of this exhausting struggle, my prayers were answered and you began to sleep again.  I remember the first night you finally slept.  You began to snore.  At first the snoring scared me, startling me from sleep, reminding me of all that had changed.  Even at night I couldn’t escape that fact that for better or worse, we were different.

Most days it feels like that was a long time ago and for that I’m grateful.  Our life is happy.  We are whole.  Changed, yes, but when we put together the pieces of our fractured life, you were still you and I was still me.

Now at night when I wake to your snoring, I press into you, safe in the knowledge that you are here in this life with me.  I remember the days when you couldn’t sleep.  I listen to your snoring and say a prayer of thanks that you have found rest, that we have found respite together.

I’ve come to love the sound of your snores.  In the quiet of night, your snoring is the sound I listen for.  In fact, it’s my favorite sound, the one I want to hear all the days of my life.

I heard you snoring last night and I felt safe.  I rolled over and slipped into a dream.  And when I woke, I woke to our life together.

It is the sweetest dream of all.

Poetry From Little Lips

On By Alicia McCauleyIn Poetry, Teacher TalesLeave a comment

Children have such a way with words, pairing combinations that just pulse off the page.  Their little lips seem to spill poetry.  I’m lucky enough to be a fly on the wall when they mish mash those beautiful combinations.

Poet Naomi Shihab Nye collected some of the things her son said and reads his words here in her poem “One Boy Told Me”.

You are, no doubt, scrambling for a piece of paper this very second to write down the wonders that have slipped through the lips of your son, daughter, niece, nephew, granddaughter, grandson, the kid next door, or even that funny kid in front of you in line at the post office.  Do it, grab a pencil and write it down.  Quick, before your grown-up brain forgets and instead fills up with mundane things like the grocery list.  And then share your lines or a link to them in the comments section please.  It’s National Poetry Month and we all deserve a little more poetry in our lives.

Thinking Spring

On By Alicia McCauleyIn Poetry1 Comment

April is National Poetry Month and although the first day of Spring was nearly a month ago, it feels like Spring is just now arriving.  So here’s a little poem to celebrate the fact that maybe, just maybe winter is finally giving way.

Thinking Spring

The sign outside my front door reads ‘Think Spring’.

In the breath of summer, that leaves me cracked and dry,

And in the fall, when bouquets of colors fall at my feet,

But especially when the cold song of winter whistles through the crack of my front door,

I’m thinking about all that is secreted away, tucked in and waiting to bloom,

All that is just waiting for wind’s warm whisper that Spring has arrived.

 

Thankful Thursday #20

On By Alicia McCauleyIn Thankful ThursdaysLeave a comment

This week I’m thankful for…

  • new shoes that feel comfortable from the first wear
  • my little one who brought his hamster, Mr. Beans, to school on his special sharing day.  The kids squealed and cheered when the boy took Mr. Beans out of his box.  Mr. Beans then spent the next hour scared stiff.  Poor Mr. Beans will never be the same!
  • another little one who brought his pet, Lilly the Tortoise, to share.  Lilly has impeccable timing and pooped just as the boy was lifting her out of her box.  The class started shrieking in horror as the poop plopped into the box.  Poor first graders will never be the same.  I on the other hand, had to stifle my giggles.  Potty humor slays me.
  • the rare bike ride where my legs feel like they could go forever
  • talking to my brothers on the phone and dreaming about a big bike adventure together.  What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, except when I post pictures on my blog.  Brothers, consider yourselves warned.
  • these magical words from the pharmacist “I’ve got that on hand.  Your prescription will be ready in a few minutes.”  My sinuses thank you, kind sir.
  • the little boy in my class who wore his “I’m a Big Brother” sticker all weekend and just had to wear it to school Monday
  • the sound of my neighborhood in spring.  Children play outside, wind chimes ting-a-ting-ting on gust of barbecue scented wind.  Spring is here and not a moment too soon.
  • the fact that it’s week 20 and I still have so much to be grateful for.  I hope the same is true for you.