On the Reservation

It hit me how much I love my job today. I got a bit blue during my lunch break while thinking about how much I miss my boyfriend, who is living abroad this year. I started sinking in my chair and I could feel the tingle of tears around my eyes. But then who crashes through my classroom door, but “Elmer”, my student with cognitive impairment and physical disabilities. He is a sheep herder and a Navajo cowboy and sometimes he can be so, so naughty.

And I'd never been happier to see him. You see, without realizing it, he forced me to refocus my wallowing thoughts on my own life to think about his life and his needs and why the heck he was in my room when he was supposed to still be at lunch. I mention this, because it's so, so important, for me at least, to have inspiration outside of myself. It’s easy to wallow and lose focus about what is truly important. It’s harder when you have someone refusing to leave your classroom to go to lunch.