It Truly Is Those Little Things

I poured my second cup of coffee and flipped open my laptop. Seated in my kitchen at my usual spot I began to ponder. I felt a lovely calm settle all about me. I had gotten some exercise in, my husband cooked us delicious banana pancakes before leaving to do some chore, the dogs were settled on their beds, the house was quiet.

It truly is those little things.

Yesterday, a Friday, had come to a close. The wild ones had left for the day. The constant flurry of activity that defines Room 209 had subsided. For now. Evidence remained however. Broken pencils, folded Post-its, an abandoned book, a chair not pushed in. As I wandered and pondered our week I saw the place where Rodger had been. He had been knocked over in record time, our egg. Just 6 days old and a backpack strap came to close, tapping our friend and tipping him over. Like I said, the wild ones live here, so it was not a surprise. As I got close to where he had stood I was met with these tokens of how much they cared.

All week they had been making Rodger things. The little Rodger Book is a diary written from Rodger’s perspective each day. They made him friends and gave him awards.

And this continued even after he was gone. Throughout the day they had been making Rodger little remembrances. All on their own.

I laughed out loud when I read the “Edgar Allen Poe-esque” poem. I had just finished reading the first Lemony Snicket book, “The Bad Beginning” from the Series of Unfortunate Events. This clever book begins with a dedication: “To Beatrice- dearest, darling, dead.” The story goes on to introduce a couple of extremely rude little boys named Edgar and Albert and their last name is Poe. I briefly explained about Edgar Allen Poe and his poetry. Many seemed to recognize, “Quoth the raven, “Nevermore”. Thanks to Netflix, the children are now watching the series but many of them have begun reading the books as well. I don’t know the author of this poem but I can’t help but believe that they weren’t influenced by Daniel Handler and Edgar Allen Poe! Not a bad beginning to a writerly life! Here is the poem again:

It truly is those little things! We don’t need to go very far to find those reasons to smile and be thankful. Sometimes we just need a little quiet time in our lives to realize how good it is!

Happy Saturday!


4 thoughts on “It Truly Is Those Little Things

  1. OMG! I love this! I love the eulogies to Rodger and the collections fo memorials to him. I love that you give them the latitude to be this way. Thank for this post and so many others about what happens day to day in your classroom. Lucky kids with much time well spent. Such a great slice – it IS the little things, and the ones we could never guess or predict.

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  2. What a great peek into your classroom-how fun it must be to be one of your students. Sorry to hear that Rodger met a tragic demise, but I love the responses and homages to him. These Rodger pieces are keepsakes for sure! Thank you for sharing with us!

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