Better Together

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My BFF when I was in preschool at Mrs. French's was a girl named Scarlet.

I wish I could find her now, because based on how much trouble we got into at age 4, I think she'd still be my tribe for sure.

Getting in trouble with Scarlet was the beginning of my storied career in D-Hall as I progressed through school.

I was always a great student grades-wise throughout school, and if there was a job where I could get paid to take classes full time, I'd be doing it to this day. Well I did get an F one time for telling a teacher she was insane if she thought I was dissecting a pregnant cat or a frog. My exact words were less than PG13, so I won't repeat them, and I'm not going to lie - my dad had a hard time suppressing a laugh when I told him what happened. He supported my decision to accept the consequence for something I was not willing to do, but he also was amused by my ferocity - he said it reminded him of some rebellious women in his family. While he was not exactly a rule follower, he was very easy going and not as prone to telling people to stuff it as I can be when someone crosses one of my red lines.

And guess what - that F hasn't hurt me yet! :)

But the public school mold wasn't made for my personality.

I like to talk, and I like to laugh and make other people laugh.

So I got in trouble a LOT.

Thankfully, it's hard to break my spirit, so I never cared that I got in trouble - still don't, if the offense is talking or laughing - but I think my mom did get tired of driving me there every Saturday - sorry mom! When I became a teacher later, I did have kids that I could see could easily have their little spirits broken by being in a situation where laughing and talking was bad, and I made sure I was never that type of teacher. I was teaching third grade at a private school, and I frequently referred parents to Montessori or other more appropriate schools when I could see my kids struggling as the square peg in a round hole.

I'm sort of hoping some changes come out of this weird time that get us back to the basics of being kind to people and recognizing that it's much more important to focus on simple joys we may have taken for granted.

I have found myself thinking about how little 4 year old me would have felt if suddenly I wasn't able to see Scarlet for weeks or months, and it makes my chest hurt - I would have been crushed. I wouldn't have understood. I would have been angry and sad. I probably would have been mad at my parents and her parents and anyone I knew.

So my heart goes out to all the kids who are struggling away from their friends. As hard as it is for all of us - my goodness my heart breaks for the littles.

So if anyone out there remembers my friend Scarlet from elementary school, or knows where she is now - I'd love to find her. Every year, I search Facebook for her, but no luck yet.

And when I saw this image, she's exactly who I thought of. This alone together stuff is for the birds. Actually I really like birds, so it's not even for the birds.

I colored the image with my Karin markers (Discount code below for anything they sell), and I added the sentiment from this adorable stamp set. All my hugs to my friends at Unity during this time. They are great people, and I need them to survive this, so please support them if you can!

Bunnies in a Balloon - Unity Stamp... [ UNT ] Feeling Off - Unity Stamp Company [ UNT ] Karin BRUSHMARKER MEGA BOX 60 Colors... [ SSS ] Art Anthology BIG CRAFT MAT 24x36 311473 [ SSS ] Heavy Base Weight Card Stock- White [ GNK ] MISTI Stamping Tool [ MSP | HA | SSS | ELH | MFT | UNT ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC ] LightView 2in1 LED Magnifier for... [ BRG ] Teflon Bone Folder - Ellen Hutson LLC [ ELH | SSS ] Crafter's Companion GEMINI... [ SSS ] Scor-Pal MINI SCOR-BUDDY Scoring... [ SSS ] Essentials by Ellen Storage... [ ELH ] Die Storage - Clear Storage Pockets... [ CHC ] XL Stamp Storage Pockets [ ELH ] Mermaid tidy towel case and glue... [ ETS ] Lawn Fawn STAMP SHAMMY Cleaner LF1045 [ SSS | CST ] Airtable: Organize your stamps & dies [ ART ]

Easter has such a strange feeling this year. I hope you can celebrate it in your own special, new 2020 way. I'm sure for that reason, it will be the most memorable Easter/Passover season of our lives, so we have to embrace that specialness. I encourage you all to journal right now. Let's pass these stories on.

I hope you are well.

Loveyameanitbye.

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