the butterfly circus.

do yourself a favor, stop reading this and watch "the butterfly circus" on youtube. you'll need about 15 minutes and a handy supply of tissues. do it. now. okay, so now that you've watched, i'll give you some notes on my personal experience with this beautiful little gem. i was sitting in mr. mendes's class, as i always do at 8:30 am, and he tells his class that we are going to be watching this short film. i assumed it was going to be humorous, simply because that is the way things usually go down in the 8th grade room. boy was i wrong. using the symbolism of the butterfly, the film expressed the beauty in overcoming tragedy and personal struggles with the wise ringmaster saying, "The greater the sorrow, the greater the triumph." COME ON. how true and beautiful is that?! like i always do, i related this to my life. as a teacher, i want to be the person who tells my kids it is absolutely okay to let their freak flags fly and that they should be the kind of people that let others do the same. there is something so basically human about the idea that it struck a major chord. i do my job because i want my kids to recognize that they have greatness within them, no matter how they might feel about themselves. so rewind to 8:52 and me bawling like a baby in a room full of 8th graders. like a BABY. like, sobbing. mr. mendes at one point was like, "uh, I'm sorry Alex". it was one of those moments that i don't want to forget, as embarrassing as it was. we need to be kinder to ourselves and to others. and trust me, i'm the first person in line at the "i need to get better at this" store.

in other news, i really, truly think the book is in the works. i was throwing around titles yesterday...none of them seemed right. we are painting the living room pewter (looks phenom), and i may be going to see the musical loves of my life mumford & sons on monday. oh dear sweet banjo, how i love thee. and if anyone would like to step in as my professional life coach, i'm down. after a mini-meltdown yesterday (don't act like you don't have them, too) i'm ready to tackle productive next steps...ha.