Slice of Life 2019: Day 4

Thankfulness

Some days I’m brimful with thankfulness. I wish I could bottle those good feelings up and keep them for cloudy days! Today the Georgia sun is gleaming and that’s got me blissful about life and everyone around me.

When you home educate, there is a strangeness that happens when you are down to just one kid. If you do this long enough, its going to happen. All the older siblings progress out of the house, and you are left with just one or two. I used to be really afraid of these days. “How would that look?” I’d ask. “How would it look to just have one kid I’m schooling?” We’d always had several in this school room. Back then, the volume was just through the roof. Toys and pencils reached every corner. Sippy cups and army men were strewn across the floors. Stacks of books and papers covered every surface. It was an educational war zone.

Well, today schooling one child was looking pretty nice. At 9:45, after we’d been reading for an hour, I turned on some Steely Dan and brought up some green tea. We sipped that for awhile and then discussed African capitals and Latin. At some point, the day was going so smoothly I was able to work on grading and recording papers for my writing classes. It was a dream.

Then, about 2 pm the sun burst forth through the window and seized a working boy with its soft warmth. As I grabbed my camera and pulled off the lens, I didn’t have to step over any Lincoln logs or math cubes to take the photos above. It was magical.

After school, it was time for saxophone lessons. Now, music practice can sometimes be slightly egregious to the student.

“No! Not today!” I will hear from the mouths of babes. “I don’t want to go to practice!”

But, today was golden. “I think I’m ready,” my boy said on the way out the door.

We made it to practice with time to spare and I actually had checks in my purse to pay our fabulous instructor!

I snuck a photo of these two saxophonists by catching their reflection in a nearby mirror. They’re working on scales and pass-off’s.

On the way out the door…

“I played better this week than last week, even though I didn’t practice as much,” my musician said as we left the building.

“Good! Let’s go get a mini Frosty,” I added and he flung his instrument case into the back seat.

I am thankful for days like these: for sunshine and saxophones and books and extra time with my youngest. These are good days and I am grateful.