sometimes a smile is all it takes

this week, i've been (gasp!) EARLY to work. not even just on time, but early. this is big for me. I mean, i'm always on time, but never really early. i blame it on my addiction to facebook (first step is admittance, right?) now that i've deleted facebook, i waste less time in the morning. sure, i still hit snooze three times before i get out of bed, but seeing as it really only takes me half an hour to get ready, that's not a big deal. so monday and tuesday, i was early. fantastic.
today though, i was late. i woke up as normal, around 7:50, got myself ready, DID my hair (which really doesn't mean much since i was just trying to hide the fact that my hair isn't even clean currently. gross. ignore that statement.) and thought i would have time to get myself a lunch. 8:43. looked out the window and realized it had snowed overnight. which meant my car would be covered in snow. not a big deal right? we haven't had too much snow as of late, i'm sure it was just a dusting. nope. it was definitely a good 2, 2.5 inches on my car that needed to be wiped clean before i could leave. i was still in good spirits though. i love the snow. it's just a pain sometimes.
i finally left my apartment around 8:50. as i'm stopped at the stop sign at 800 N and 200 E, i see a friend standing at the corner waiting to cross the street to walk to campus.
i honk.
no response.
i roll down my window and yell their name.
still nothing. but that's when i realize they have headphones in.
i honk again.
recognition!
i wave; they wave and smile back.
as i'm watching this friend continue their trek across the street and up the ramp to campus, i see that they still have a smile on their face from that run-in. {you know the smile-the one that shows up when you're thinking about a happy moment, a funny joke, whatever. you can't hold it in, it shows up involuntarily} glad i could {hopefully) make what could potentially be a bad day with finals, better for them, and in return, make my own day that much brighter. that smile has taken me through the day. {and if i had been early/on time like the previous two days, i would have missed that moment. tender mercies.}
tuesday, i had other smiles taking me through the day; the looks from across the room, with that hint of a smile in their eyes, as someone is watching you (not creepily), with the hopes that maybe you're paying attention, but the fear that maybe you're not. potential butterflies? yes.

daily smiles//kids say the darndest things

being that this daily smile took place while at work with my 8th graders, i think it also counts as a kstdt.

it was my last class period with them {sad!} so they were of a sorts yesterday.

the short of it is, i have a boyfriend in the 8th grade. yup. true love.

forget the fact that i'm ten years his senior.

haha.

ok, here's the story.

one of my best kids (well, ok let's be honest, they're all pretty great), the one who tried to bribe me with money to give him extra points, was having trouble focusing. talking and chatting with friends, one of the girls started up a conversation suggesting that i liked him. i said, "well zach, given that i'm ten years older than you, i can't. if you were ten years older, settled and graduated from college, then maybe, it'd be a different story."

he then went on to say that he had already graduated from harvard and that he came back to middle school to relearn the basics. RIIIIIGHT.

we continued with the tutorial but he continued having problems focusing.

when i mentioned it to him, he confessed, "it's hard to do when your beauty is so blinding"

AH HAHA. right.

then, on the board i had circled like terms in a polynomial using squares, circles and triangles. when i asked zach if he knew what the problem was, he said, "it means you and me. see the circle and triangle is your heart and the other ones are mine."

oh boy.

i told him when i was grading his notes that i was giving him full points just because he made me laugh.

on his paper he had doodled several things, one on the front, our names together in a heart.

on the back: kayla=key to my heart. and then in his summary, zach and kayla forever.

hahahahahaha. i laughed so hard. and it definitely made me smile.

at the end of the class period, the students were thanking us for the help this year and zach yelled out across the room, "we love you kayla!"

his teacher then commented saying, "looks like you've got yourself a boyfriend"

yup, guess so.

oh i sure will miss these kids.

:)