Okay so I am miserably behind on this here writing series, but hey, I’m not going to sweat it too badly. I am sure my faithful readers (all 3 of you, ha ha!) will probably forgive me, and besides, I was busy making lots of moments this weekend so I’m pretty sure I get a free pass just because of that!

Friday, as I was leaving school and wrapping up my very first ever workaholism-free week, I reviewed the 4,356,821 cards, pictures, and notes of all kinds from my students which had been shoved in my mailbox throughout the week. Now, you’ll probably not like hearing this, but I do not keep every single piece of paper on which a child has scribbled in my honor. When I first became a teacher I started to. I swore I would because every one of them is special and made just for me, so I was bound and determined to keep them all out of principle. Well, when I had filled up 2 copy-paper-ream cases in the first few months of my career, I knew that I’d have to camp on a more important principle. So I weed through them. I do read/look at every one, and I keep a few that are really, really special to me. The rest go in a recycling bin very far away from my classroom so no poor little child will ever be scarred by seeing that I, in effect, disposed of their gift. Call me a terrible person, but that’s how I roll.

But on Friday, I came across a keeper. It was buried under a million other crumpled pieces of paper with various degrees of writing and artistry on them, but this one made my week. Here is a partial picture:

 Although recess is still #1 in the hearts of all elementary school kids, I’m plenty satisfied knowing that learning came in a close second, and this child’s “very very buitifull, nice, and confident” teacher showed up as third on her list. How in the world could I not smile at that? And how the heck does she already know how to spell “confident” when she’s only 7!? Anyway, I digress…what a cool moment!

So the night just kept getting better when I left early(!!!) to meet my delicious husband for a Friday night date. We went to the Italian Festival, where we ate about 6 days worth of calories, I’m sure. We walked around holding hands and people-watching, and I fell in love with him for about the 7 zillionth time. I also fell in love with some beautiful artwork of the crust & crumb kind…

Oh, did these ever smell wonderful. I think I may have embarrassed Todd with the way I fondled and sniffed these artisan loaves (a common practice for me in an open-air bread market!) but…the big, Brooklyn-type baker selling his bread told Todd that it was okay, because “it’s bread…we’re messin’ with emotions here!” That dude totally gets it. 🙂