Learning

Encouragement.

Lifted up for the day. Lifted the day up. [faith, hope, and love.]

Realization: I'm harder on myself than ever before at a time when I'm supposed to be growing the most.

Grasping at the future and the past all at once, reminding myself of where I'm going and yet trying to reach for everything that got me this far all at once.

Not wanting to go at it alone. Being reminded that I'm not. That I am equipped. [Thank you.]

Trying to be supportive while inwardly crying out like a little girl for approval, for knowing I'm doing something right, trying to pretend I'm stronger than I really am.

[I am stronger than I think sometimes, but nowhere near as strong as I sometimes lead people to believe.]

Sometimes the smile I see on my second graders' faces match the one I have one the inside -- the unsure, shy one asking, "Am I doing this right?"

Whisper words of wisdom:

"Let it be."

[The Beatles]