A New School & Inspiration

Thursday, 9/22/11, was Back-To-School Night at our new middle school. The middle school itself is not new, just new to us. As we sat through the campus introduction and then through each 12-minute presentation by Heather's teachers, I was overcome with the profound assurance that we had made the right decision to move her to this school.

Each of Heather's new teachers presented a message that they 1) enjoy their jobs, 2) want to help their students learn, and 3) will do everything in their power to help their students succeed. I was pretty much tearing up by 6th period. It was as if I had been starving and had just been seated at a banquet.

Aside from the educational perks, Heather has been reporting no shister-like behavior on the playground. We don't hear daily reports of who called her what name, or what foul word someone was experimenting with that day. No catty girls are trying to ensnare her in a trap or leaving her to walk the playground alone. She now has about 12 or so of her very dear friends from growing up or church to hang out with. The naughty words are somewhere across the yard with those lovely language scientists who, I'm sure, are still experimenting away. Heather has a new buffer that money cannot buy.

I jotted down two quotes off the wall in Heather's social studies classroom. Both inspired hope for the good things to come. So far, the school year is looking brighter. Even if it doesn't stay this way, I am grateful for the respite of the past couple of weeks. Last year was a doozy for this momma, and the change of pace thus far has instilled some long-needed peace.

We are what we repeatedly do.

Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

~Aristotle

The greater danger for most of us

lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short,

but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark.

~Michelangelo