Yes my Lovelies! You are now looking at a new and fabulously employed Diva! Yay! Thank you! Thank you! And while I would love to regale you with tales of the tedious interview process or any faux pas that I may or may not have committed (...like perhaps completely forgetting the names of the two people that interviewed me... or spilling hot tea on myself when gesturing with 1 billion degree tea to make a point in one of my statements....), I can't. Not because I don't want to. I do! Really. It's just that, today? Today, was a heavy day full of tears and fond memories and a shit ton of kleenex.
Today, I attended the funeral of a 9 year old boy. A boy who was a part of my previous job. A boy who always brought in sunshine with him when he entered any room. And it sucked. No. The service did not suck. The service was beautiful and was complete with candle, sand, and balloon ceremonies. It was a wonderful way to celebrate this young child's life and bring closure to his family, friends, and all who knew him. All who knew of his magic. Today sucked because it should be against the law of the universe for someone that young to have to leave us.
Working with children is all at once wonderful and tiring. It takes special patience to explain for the millionth time before lunch to use your walking feet, to not throw anything across the room, and to go wash your hands because NO! It is NOT OK for you to spread yucky germs and boogers all over the place. It is equally satisfying and soul filling when one of the children completely surprises you with a witty statement or a new found skill or just asks a question that makes your heart grow 3 sizes. After a trillion of these trying and fabulous moments, you feel like your souls connect and that you will be forever bonded with these children (even if they pretend when they're older that you're uncool and have no idea what you're talking about when you share with them about the time that they built the coolest block fort in the history of block forts or how you can still remember when they had trouble saying spaghetti and called everyone a 'him'.) So when a child that holds part of your soul passes away, it hurts tremendously, and makes the saying: "life isn't fair", seem painfully cruel and cliched without offering any kind of way to help repair the new wound.
It has been an honor to know this young man - to be allowed to learn from him and watch him grow. He has shown the adults around him what it was like to be courageous and unafraid in times of darkness and despair. I pray and hope that he has finally found peace, and is now watching down on us from Heaven.
Please take a moment today to cherish the ones you love, to make the choice to forgive instead of hold a grudge, and to put down whatever it is that may be distracting you from loving and paying attention to those whom you love with your whole heart. Life is, after all, made up of zillions of small, but significant moments.
Happy (in a bittersweet kind of way) Friday.
P.S. If you have a little time/money to spare, may I recommend donating to help cure cancer. There will come a day when we won't have to bury anyone else from that horrible disease... and I hope it comes sooner rather than later.
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