One of the absolute best parts of my job is that I work at a school. I get to see and interact with kids of all ages, and other than reminding me of how old I’m getting, they also remind me of how much fun being alive can be.

I love walking around the playground and seeing new chalk drawings, like this one of one of our substitute teachers made during art class. I love seeing our kids express themselves in fun and imaginative ways. It reminds me not to be so stodgy and to loosen up a little.

I saw this on my walk today, and I can only deduce that someone made a hopscotch diagram using just water. The sheer imagination to come up with something like this impresses the hell out of me. I guess the lesson here is that the only limits in life are those you impose on yourself, so just go out there and play.

More chalk art. I love this one.

I’m not really sure what’s going on here…

…but I like it! 😵

Earlier today, as I was walking to the main office at school, I saw Zoe, a second grader, with a snow shovel. She was shoveling snow when I asked her, “What are you doing?”

Aubrey, another second grader, ran up to me, face full of excitement, and said, “We’re building a fort!”

I noticed that Aubrey had a brand new pair of glasses, her first. I said, “I love your glasses.”

She turned her head to the side so I could see the temples of her glasses. They had cute hearts on the side. “I like the cool design,” she said.

I showed her my glasses and said, “All mine say is Ray Ban.”

Aubrey pulls me down so she could see and then says, “That sounds like a band. You know what you should do?”

“What?”

“You should get all the teachers together and have a rock concert in the gym.” She paused for a second and then says, “And you should invite Ray! He could play guitar.”

Ray is another second grader in her class, and I laugh pretty hard and say, “Does he know how to play guitar?”

“I don’t know,” she said. And then she ran away and went back to building her snow fort with Zoe.

My favorite 1st grader ran up to me and gave me a hug. She wore a black jacket, and she placed her arm beside mine and said, “We’re wearing the same color.”

I looked at her and said, “Black is cool.”

“Yeah,” she said. “Black is my second favorite color.”

“What’s your first favorite?”

“White.”

“Your favorite colors are black and white?”

“Yeah,” she said. “Those are my dad’s favorite colors.”

I looked at her and just smiled because I couldn’t help it.

I wasn’t looking forward to returning to work today, but my favorite little 1st grader ran up to me and gave me a big big big hug as soon as she saw me. And now I feel great!

Before I accepted my current job, I didn’t know if I liked kids or not. But now, I can safely say I absolutely adore them. They give out hugs freely and they always want to play games. Such a lovely set of souls.