Patience

Today, right before my first class (the one that only has two students in it) a South Korean boy and a girl, both first graders, were happily engaged in getting me to chase them around the school -- which is something they both love, of course. It was almost time for class, however, so I had to figure out how to gently herd them back to their classroom, so we could actually study something.

But, wouldn't ya know it, as often goes "the best laid plans of mice and men," little Bonnie bumped into and knocked off onto the floor, two trays full of upper and lowercase alphabet letters! Letters that have to be put back into forty-eight different cups, all in precise alphabetical order....

Oops!

So, quite unlike the way it would have been if my own father had been in the room when I was that age, I just smiled. And then Bonnie, John and I all sat down on the floor, and made an impromptu, and surprisingly fun game, out of putting each and every single one of those hundreds of plastic letters back into each of their respective cups.

'Cause that's just the way it ought to be for every kid, and every stressed out adult. And that's the way I really, really wish it could always be for everyone in the world. Though sadly, it just ain't.