Today may have been the best birthday I have ever had. I walked into school this morning running on four hours of sleep and exhausted. I was anything but ready for another day. I started to get the classroom ready for the day, wrote out the bellringer, changed the objectives and dates on the board, and in walked two girls from my 5th period class, to wish me a happy birthday and bringing me flowers and candy.
Um, have I mentioned lately that I love my job?
These kinds of things happened all day. Immediately after the flowers arrived and my mentor teacher went to find a vase, a group of girls from 4th period came in to deliver "birthday hugs." My 1st and 6th period classes both delivered rousing renditions of "Happy Birthday" as soon as the bell rang for their classes to start, and I received handmade cards and silly bands all day. The 6th period gift-giver even made me a necklace out of paper clips....pretty labor-intensive if you ask me.
Here's the thing -- I really do teach the most wonderful students in the world. It's pretty rare that you get to spend the majority of your workday laughing. I get to do that. I love how something funny or unexpected always happens in my class. I love how I spend my entire day smiling. I LOVE how teaching these students makes me want to be the very best teacher I can possibly be, because I feel like they deserve even more than that. Getting to know my students this semester has brought so much joy and fulfillment into my life. As I was driving home today, I couldn't help but think about how sad I'll be in December when I have to leave. But today, I don't have to think about that. Today, it's my birthday, and I'm going to enjoy every minute of it. And tomorrow I'll get to go back and do what I love all over again.
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