Here is the latest story written by Lisa Gray:
They say that good friends are like stars…you don’t always see them but you know where they are. In this generation of teachers who started off counseling at summer camps, day and night camps it’s easy to become enmeshed in the lives of those young trees for deep in the forest of friendship is where I happened upon Ingrid Snydal.
Whose icy blue eyes, crinkle up to smile at the mention of her little ones. Who at private or public schools sees the world through their eyes, making an incredible start…for what a world it is!
I’d like to know how you hold it together as the co-teacher in a private school-just home from Japan when the kids want a story. You play soft music and imagine one little rabbit making his way across the meadow and over the course of a week the rabbit goes missing and you s-t-r-e-t-c-h that story out until the very last day. When one little boy runs up-barely to the top of your knees and pleads with you to make it a happy ending…because no matter what…there has to be a happy ending.
And your eyes encircle the little group of JK’s in their tiny little uniforms and he’s there pulling at your sleeve with pleading eyes, needing to know and at last the pull in your heart is too much so you bend down and tell the boy in a whisper-that yes!…the rabbit is going to be ok and the next day when Madame tells the class the end of the story, he looks over at her and winks.
And doesn’t it happen like all good fairy tales, that four years later those same little kids-now in grades one and two are sitting in the home room class asking for a ‘real story’ when in walks Madame Ingrid. Who like all good Fairy Godmothers, grants wishes like giggles and they start asking for the rabbit story, again. After four years it’s incredible to have made such an impression and there at the front desk sits the little boy smiling up at Madame as he walks over to whisper the magic words in her ear… ‘Don’t worry…I’m keeping the secret’.
For where does one learn to find time-but from their teachers, their mothers-their fathers. And who has the tallest tale and values your opinions as the most important thing in the world? Whose fear and excitement at the beginning of the year falls away in community, where every voice matters and every-one belongs, where we learn it’s ok to ask for help from teachers and each other.
And back to the rabbit story whose main characters are knee deep to a grass-hopper and who value above all else, anything hand delivered at their level.
Who come to believe their value as the years go by and in a soft, kind voice believe and trust you because you value their opinion and then you wait for that magic-est of moments when your little ones begin to interact with their teacher. And the reward, if there is one is that they want you all the time…doing favors for, tidying up. In the older grades it’s the conversations and opinions that are developed on the cusp of maturity. They’re not shy to express themselves and the front row seats are taken up by eager teachers watching their work in progress.
And so we end with two stars and a wish, which in its simplicity comes from positive thinking and gratitude. As you know there’s good in everything you do and Good Seed grows in every pocket, for a heart at rest sees a feast in everything.
For at the end of each day, Madame asks each child what their two stars and a wish will be. Sometimes, like in the beginning it’s hard for anyone to realize the good in things, but with practice we’ll all come along. And one by one, the lists of gratitude grows right down to the smallest thing and there in the back of the forest, like in the beginning, we find our friends, our wishes-our dreams…a meditation-a lesson-one teacher…amazing.
I would love to have feedback from my stories…Please email me at: [email protected]