Friday, March 8, 2013

Affirmation

A friend said the nicest thing to me the other day.  I was in the midst of recording a sheaf of graded tests in my grade book with only 3 minutes before I had to rush down the hall to run dress rehearsal for the high school play, when she said matter-of-factly, "I don't know how you do it."

I paused and swiveled curiously to look at her.

"No, really.  You're a mom.  You teach.  You coach drama.  You make dinner.  AND you read books. How does that all happen?"

I savored the warm tingle of acclaim for a couple of seconds and thought about that.  How did it all happen?

Well, not very well and not at all consistently is the truth.  It's a constant plate-juggling circus some weeks.  Dinner can be a generous word for rustled-together leftovers, takeout, or hurriedly thawed spaghetti sauce served over a mixture of various pasta shapes representing the dregs of several boxes left in the pantry. There are times when I let the essay-grading slide a couple of days more than I should.  I coach drama because it's fun. And I read because it keeps me sane.  Mostly sane.

But, man.  It was really nice to have somebody notice that it can be hard.

REALLY nice.

What nice things have people said to you lately?