This morning I got up and set to work going out to do what I needed to do today along with all the other Bostonians all around me. A friend of mine wrote a blog entitled Finding Perspective that I read just before leaving the house. Not being up here in the city or being connected to anyone involved, she was having a hard time putting a lens on this tragic event. I so understood her. Even though I felt a connection because I was here and my daughter was walking home on the streets of Boston during the event, trying to find perspective on why an eight year old boy had to die hugging his father as he crossed the finish line lies beyond a boundary we cannot fathom.
When it came time for me to leave the house I had a perspective through which I was going to view my day. It turned out that I also had a connection to the eight year old that died. He and his family are friends of someone in my bible study group and I received an email requesting prayer. So I prayed. But now what? Now I go to work. Today I had the pleasure of spending the better part of my day with eight and nine year olds that are very much alive. Alive, and full of questions and comments over this horrific act. My job today was to give my time and attention to them.
Today was day two of my Young Authors Workshop. The children bounced into the room already to dig in. They had a great time yesterday and had unfinished stories, poems, and illustrations in their Work In Progress folders that they were anxious to get to. When they entered the room I had some instrumental music playing and told them that meant a quiet time to spend with their Writers Notebook. Yesterday we learned about four things we could put in our notebooks. One was “fierce wonderings”, meaning things we see and hear that just won’t leave our brains. Things that we think about over and over in our mind. Four out of the six children wrote about the sad event, describing what had happened. It was a gentle way of letting them quiet their nagging minds. There, it was dealt with. Time to move on.
We proceeded with the topics for today and pretty soon they were busy and engaged in writing “Nutsy News Stories”, quietly putting aside the tragic one. It was a fun project. First they had to cut 25 words out of a newspaper. Then they had to arrange the words into a goofy headline such as “Arlington Volleyballs Lost Their Butter” and proceed to write the news stories to go with the headline. Needless to say we were giggling from the get-go. The day ended on a high note with everyone smiling and feeling extremely accomplished.
My mission? Also accomplished. In the wake of the devastation, I jumped into the morning commute alongside the Bostonians and validated their persistence and strength in the face of such a thing. The tragedy caused me to view the job I had to do today just a little more importantly and with a bit more focus than yesterday.
And so, as another day goes by, I’ll leave you wondering about butter and volleyballs, the children were taken care of, I feel extreme peace tonight, and… I have written (and maybe found some perspective).
Fully engaged!
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