Journal: Sunday, April 30, 2006

On Friday we held our annual Grandparents’ Day at school, and, from what I could observe, it was a day of good cheer and gratitude for one and all. There were smiles everywhere (though mixed with some confusion as our older guests tried to decipher what was happening in the different classes). In my classroom, children smiled and laughed as much as they normally do, but perhaps with a bit more exhilaration than usual, surrounded as they were by the charming grandparents. My students and I love visitors, especially those who come into the room with such wide smiles. It’s safe to say that those smiles grew out of pure gratitude, for all of us grandparents have much to be grateful for. Yesterday I occasionally paused to glance at the children -- those rich, youthful lives walking and running and holding hands and smiling around our campus. It was a miracle of life, and all our visiting grandparents were involved at the start of that miracle. I’m sure they must have felt the same sense of thankfulness that I was feeling. I also felt thankful, more than ever, that I am a teacher in our peaceful and enriching school. It always seem miraculous to me: somehow, in some vastly mysterious way, the universe set me down in the halls of this marvelous school back in 1978, and I’ve been a happy man ever since. Yesterday I felt especially happy as I saw our visitors proudly learning beside their grandchildren. It was a day of blossoming trees outside and blossoming family friendship inside.