Reflection. Who knew?

A couple of years ago I met some new people. I remember walking into a room and not knowing a single name or face that I was in the room with. The teacher came in, greeted us, told us a little bit about herself, and we moved into some activities that she had planed for us. The very first one was everyone cutting a piece of yarn of any length and then we ended up having to wrap that yarn around our finger while telling about ourselves until we ran out of yarn. Another activity that we did allowed us to find commonalties within the people in the room. We formed different groups based on those commonalities, and that was when the ice began to break between myself and my peers. From that point forward friendships began to blossom. While it was a slow start for us all really becoming personal with each other, and we had to have a few nudges to make some connections, we did eventually connect. We began to become a family. We cared about each other. We shared, laughed, cried, and became one of the most amazing support systems for each other that I have ever been a part of. When it all came down to it, we were there for each other.

When I look at that experience from this end of it, I feel so blessed to have been a part of that family and to know that just because we're all in our different places doing our different things doesn't mean that we are not still a family. We are. And I know that we will never be strangers again.

Who do I give credit to?
First of all I credit the orchestrator of all, and that is God my creator, for bringing these people together at the perfect moment in time.
Second of all, I give credit to a woman that knew what we needed when we needed it. She started off as someone that I really feared and didn't quite know what to do with and ended that program of study being someone that I know I can call on for the rest of my life and she may not know the answer, but will most certainly know the question to ask to help me get to my answer.

As I move into my first day of school with my very own set of students I know that they will be coming together feeling much like I did on that very first day, and I pray that I can give them exactly what they need when they need it. I hope that they form lasting friendships and make meaningful connections in all areas of their four year old lives. I hope more than anything that when they leave me that they know that I love them and expect phenomenal things from them in the future. I pray that no matter where they end up that they can feel in their soul, Ms. Michelle cared about me and she wants me to succeed, because I can honestly say that   impression left upon me by a few very special teachers in my life, along with the knowledge that my family feels that same way, has been a light on some pretty dark days.

God grant me the strength to be the teacher that all 20 of these children need.
May I ask good questions.
May I be quiet when needed.
May I hold them when they need to be held and pick them up and send them on their way when it is for the best.
May I have the strength to love them as hard as I can all the while knowing that they only have a short time with me before they'll move forward.
May I be a true reflection of God's love that follows them all of their days.