October 30, 2009
We recently attended a family wedding. The weekend was filled with rekindling friendships, reminiscing, laughing, and catching up with one another's lives. We especially enjoyed the time we spent with Bonnie, our beloved cousin and quite frankly, the entire family's beloved cousin!
Bonnie is a brilliant woman. She has an amazing career which carries more responsibility than we can comprehend. As we prepared to depart for our own homes and jobs Monday morning, we were shocked to find out that Bonnie was heading to a large conference that she was not only running, but was expected to speak at as well.
It made her gift of time to us all the more special and we couldn't help but marvel at her. She must have worked tirelessly to prepare for the conference prior to the wedding. We know how those things are though; there are always last minute details to attend to. Yet, we were never aware that she was thinking about anything but us. Every moment we spent together was relaxed and enjoyable.
She had made the impromptu decision to stay over Sunday night in order to spend more time with family. When we asked if she regretted the decision now, she said she was a bit concerned about how it would all go, but when she made the decision to spend more time with the family, she'd determined to 'be in the moment'. She set everything else aside, chose to compartmentalize her thinking and focus on spending quality time, right here, right now, as the opportunity afforded.
We can tell you that her decision and her ability to be completely present made us feel highly valued. As we talked about it later, we thought about how the lesson translates into our classrooms. It can be easy to get wrapped up in all we have to do; at times rushing through conversations or teaching, or thinking about what's next when we are engaged in something else. It's the difference between doing time in the classroom and giving students the gift of our time. If we determine, as Bonnie did, to be in the moment, the children in our care will feel how inordinately much we value them.