just another day living the dream!

I walked into the church smelling like baby drool, second-day hair still in last night’s ponytail, and somehow I knew what was coming.

“Rebecca had a hot date yesterday!!!”

Amazing what lungs a 13 year old girl can possess, especially when given a microphone. I tried every way possible to explain why lunch with an old friend is not exactly the same as a date, but 7th graders do not cut you any slack. In their minds, boy + girl = date! You know what? I love them for that.

I love that whatever I do on Sunday, I’m going to hear about at praise band practice on Monday afternoon (and so is the rest of the world). I love the way they giggle behind their notebooks like I don’t know what they’re talking about. I love those girls with their developing voices and that one precious red-headed boy who sings with them (I need to remember to give them a hard time for that). I love being real with them, having conversations that I know are being eavesdropped on and then letting them tell me what I said. I love that I’m not such a stranger anymore.

Note to self: Next time, eat somewhere less popular.

“RE-becca, are you really 27 years old?” 

What do you know? For the first time in my life, someone actually over-estimated my age! Her mother scolded her -- making jokes about age is not polite in America -- but I love that little girl’s frankness. I love that sometimes she cries because she doesn’t get to stay for writing lessons. I love that before I can start a writing lesson, I have to hear about soccer camp and Old MacDonald on the recorder and what the baby girl did to her older brother and sister today. I love eating a piece of candy and having no idea what I'm putting in my mouth. I love that when their mom offers me a plate of food, she has no idea how much more she is sending me home with.

Note to self: Always have a job that means something.

I love reading with a baby asleep on my lap because she cries when I put her down. I love knowing glances from middle schoolers. I love three Korean kids waving at me from the front door. If I've learned one thing in grad school, it's that life truly is what you make it.

I love that my life is so full of love in a town that a short year ago was empty.
It doesn’t get any better than that, folks.