I love to laugh.  Having a job where you can laugh every day is such a blessing!  Ask any educator, not matter what level,  about something funny that they have experienced, and I bet he/she could talk to you for hours about the comical happenings at school.   A fellow colleague used to follow every story with, “This is why I love this job!”

As you are very well aware, this year school looks so different.  With the changes, a lot of stress and unknowns are weighing us teachers down.  But the one thing that has not changed for me is the laughter. What a blessing.  I believe God sprinkles these little bits of amusement into our day to let us know that it’s ok.  And, It’s going to be ok.  We get to be in school. I’m not going to lie, though; it is a struggle some days.  Every day is not a good day, but there is good in every day.  And, for me, part of that ‘good’ is a funny story!

So, here are a few of my favorite moments throughout the years to brighten your day.  Some of them didn’t happen to me, but were the stories the teachers would run out in the hallway saying, “You have to hear this….”    Those are the best!

• Before we had a million cable channels and On Demand tv, the social studies teacher asked his students how many had watched ‘The State of the Union’  address the night before.  One little guy raised his hand and said he couldn’t watch anything because there was ‘some guy’ talking on every channel!

• Another fellow social studies teacher explained that Puerto Rico was a US territory and someday could become part of the United States.  Confused by this, one student asked, “How would we get it over here?”

• Frustrated by her students not doing their homework, a fellow teacher told her students that she was tired as well when she got home from work, but she still did what she was supposed to do.  Missing the point, a student raised his hand and said, “Where do you work?”

• Some classes some years are especially challenging.  At the end of day during one of my most challenging, but most rewarding classes, I took my students to the gym for a Fun Friday event with the entire school.  We had been instructed to bring our classroom trashcan with us for one of the activities.  So, I gave the job to one of my little guys who had a lot of energy, hoping this would keep him busy, at least for a little while.  The afternoon was surprisingly a lot of fun, and on the way back, I noticed my helper was carrying a trashcan.  My plan had worked, and he proved to be responsible.  However, when we got back to class, I noticed it wasn’t MY classroom’s old, beat-up trashcan!  It looked to be a brand new, shiny one!  So upon questioning my helper about why he grabbed someone else’s trashcan instead of mine, he replied, “Yeah, I know.  Yours wasn’t very nice, so I decided to get you a better one!”

• Due to the COVID procedures, the teachers are switching classes this year instead of the students.  On the first day of our switching, I noticed the students did not have their thinkpads.  I asked why; they said their teacher collected them and put them back in the cart.  Confused by this, I told them I would hand them back out as they needed them for my assignment.  One little guy informed me that their teacher told them that NO ONE was to touch the cart but her.  I said, “Watch this..,” as I tip-toed over to the cart and emphatically ‘touched’ the cart with my index finger.  A sweet, little girl then jumped up and yelled, “MRS. JAMES, THE RULE BREAKER!”  The rest of the class cheered and clapped!  (For the record, I am not a rule breaker!)

• One little girl told me that I smelled like her grandma.  That’s not a bad thing, she went on to tell me, because her grandma smells good.  (I’m still not convinced that was not a bad thing….ha ha!)

• A middle-school kiddo told me I looked nice on a day that I had dressed up a little more than usual.  I thought that was an incredibly nice gesture.  A little later, though,  he confessed, “What I really meant to say was that you have a lot of clothes on.”  (As opposed to what, I wondered?)

Laughter is truly good medicine.  It’s not only good for your mental and emotional health, but it does actually have physical benefits as well!  If you are not part of an environment that makes you laugh every day, I hope you can find something that cheers up your heart like these stories do for me!  (Maybe someday I’ll share some of the inappropriate tales!)

Much love to you all!

A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.  – Proverbs 17:22