My absence from blogging is a direct result of going back to school and adapting to my old life style.  Except I went back down to elementary school. The transition was not as smooth as I would have liked. Apparently eight year old children find high expectations overwhelming. Like I’m going to put my head down and cry overwhelming. (Sorry about that kids)

So-four weeks in. I get it. They like to sing and  love cute phrases and embrace the wonder of life. The first song I sang them was the ant song.

“Just what made that silly old ant?

Think he could move a rubber tree plant?

Everyone knows an ant can’t-move a rubber tree plant.

But he had high hopes. He had high hopes. He had high apple pie in the sky hopes.

So any time you’re feeling sad, just be getting glad and remember that ant.

Oh! oops there goes another rubber tree, oops there goes another rubber tree, oops there goes another rubber tree plant!”

Well the song is catchy and one of the kids continued humming it long after we were done with the moment thus driving all of us crazy. So I said to her, “Honey, you’re supposed to take the song and put it in your heart. Then it makes you feel happy inside.”

She asks me “How do you do that?”

My response is the classic teacher answer, “You have to practice and then one day it’ll happen.”

So we’re doing our social studies lesson when one of the boys yells “I just did it. She’s right.” His excitement has all of our attention. “I have the song in my heart. I can feel it. It makes me happy.”

I don’t know about the other kids, but my heart felt it. And I’ll be darned if those kids who used to cry at high expectations didn’t throw it back at me. Because now I’m racking my brain for songs I can remember from third grade to sing to them.