A New Ending to An Old Story

"Puff the Magic Dragon, lived by the sea, and frolicked in the Autumn mist in a land called Honalee..."

And so it goes, that melodious tune that conjures up feelings of freedom and playfulness and then sadness and loss.  As a small child I would get tears in my eyes when I heard the part about Jackie Paper coming no more.  How sad for Puff.  How sad for Jackie.  It would seem these feelings about the song's ending are universal, at least I heard the same sentiments from my daughter when she heard the story.  "Puff the Magic Dragon" was one of many fanciful stories the 8th graders came down to read to the 1st graders on a Thursday afternoon.  It is a beautifully illustrated rendition of the story, complete with a heart-broken Puff, when it would seem his life long friend was moving on.  My daughter came home and told me that her class was going to write a new ending to the story; that it didn't feel good to end it the way it did.  In this particular story book which they had been gazing upon, a fresh idea had been born.  The 2nd to last page of the book shows a small girl, peering at Puff, Puff with an expression of anticipation and delight.  And on the last page, this girl is fully engaged in the make believe world that Puff inhabits, and peeking from behind, a grown man, with a smile on a his face.  A smile of warmth.  A smile for Puff, for his beloved magic dragon now had a new playmate.  And a smile for the little girl, his daughter, for she has a childhood of adventures waiting for her.  And a smile for himself, because in getting a chance to glimpse the magic, he got to embrace it once again too, for there are few things in the world as warm and inviting as a remembered sense of something beautiful.

And so, my daughter's class wrote a new ending.  An ending where Puff and "Sally Paper played along the cherry lane."  The whole class sings together, while their magnificent teacher plays the guitar.  My daughter's proud of that new ending. She talks about how this song is special to them, special to 1st grade and that they like to sing it together during snack time and when they take walks outside.  They added to the magic and in doing so can participate in it in their own way.  Knowing that this magic was encouraged and brought to life in part by the teacher leaves me with a feeling of such gratitude.  And so, to my daughter's 1st grade teacher:  Thank you for taking the time to hear their experiences of the story, Thank you for taking the time to help them retell it in a way that felt good to them. And thank you for taking up your guitar and making the music that carries the magic that they bring into the world.

Parent Teacher Conferences

The walls are a warm rainbow of pink fading up to orange and finally into light yellow.  The soft glow of incandescent bulbs fills the room and I smell citrus, and lavender and maybe a bit of sandelwood.  To the left I see water color paintings taped to the blackboard.  Behind is an artful rendition of "Puss and Boots" drawn in chalk and filling the space on the left side of the classroom.  There is a table draped with colorful silk upon which a wooden fairy house stands, surrounded by stones, shells, flowers and wooded animals.  There is beauty all around.  I can see it and smell it and feel it.  It is peaceful, it feels like coming home.  This is the beautiful place my 1st grader gets to spend the majority of her waking hours, and I'm so glad. I am here today for my parent teacher conference.  I'm looking forward to hearing about how this lovely daughter of mine is branching out to be her own person.  I love hearing about who she is when she is not with me.  As I expected, she is doing well academically, socially and otherwise.  Her teacher noted that she says "I messed up" often when doing her work.  Her teacher asked that I help my daughter at home to rephrase, to say instead, perhaps, "That turned out differently than I planned."  Her teacher wants her to say something different to herself on these occasions because "what comes out of our mouths, shapes our reality."  Yes!  Thank you, I too want to work on this.  I love this attention to this part of herself, this small thing that doesn't cause a problem in the classroom but will soon be wonderful for her when she starts seeing her "mess-ups" as nothing of the sort.  "Is this good?" is another question my daughter often poses to the teacher.  Her teacher explains to us that she has started asking my daughter this same questions, inspiring in her an inner knowing that what she has accomplished is good.  She doesn't need to look outside herself for affirmation.  Inside she knows all is well.  We as a parent teacher team will help her to re-frame these statements, not in an effort to change her, but in an effort to free her.

I'm so happy

I am so loving everything about the educational experience my girls are engaging in every day.  Everyday I find some new, hidden jewel as they relay the happenings of their day.  I decided I'm going to write about these small moments.  These warm, delicious experiences that everyday reaffirm my decision to continue down this path.  I am learning that this path is so much more than I could ever have imagined and so much more than I dared dream was possible.  Did you know there is such a place where time seems to stand still?  It's a place where the  flow of the day resembles the journey a leaf might make when it lands gently upon the waters of a bubbling brook. Twisting and floating and mingling with stones and sticks it may pass on it's way to new lands.  Never in a hurry to get there, rather moving along with the rhythm of the beauty that surrounds it.