A Lazy Saturday

I love lazy Saturdays.  I love the moment to catch my breath and find myself again.  It takes some time to find me underneath the week of dirty clothes, stresses, pet hair, and dishes; but, I'm in there somewhere.  I get a chance to reflect on my week- think about what went well and what went wrong.  And I had lots to reflect on from this past week.  It was a long week to say the least and it felt like like everything was going wrong.  Until yesterday. 
I realized yesterday that I had created a family.  (No, crazy Nettie and hopeful Papa, no grandkids yet).  And in all honesty, I can't take credit for this creation.  It's one of those things that just seems to happen.  I have a family of students in my classroom.  If need be, I know that these youngins would go to bat for me.  Don't get me wrong- they never miss an opportunity to tell me that I'm having a bad hair day or my outfit doesn't match.  But when it comes down to it, they will always protect me and each other.   
Even though many of them have confused ideas about family, they are learning what it means to have a safe place with consistency.  My only hope is that one day (after they graduate from college and have a job), they foster their own families with the same values, honesty, and unconditional love that has emerged in our classroom.
And so now on my lazy Saturday, I hold onto that small beautiful accomplishment of my week.  I put all of the "what went wrong" to the side and stay encouraged that there are still things that are going well.