A Day with Sunshine

Sometimes, it is the little things that make a difference in a day.

Last evening, a student handed me a surprise: the Utah quarter I’ve been looking for the past three months. She explained that I gave her, a fellow diabetic, a protein bar every week when she crashed at 4:30, so she’s been looking for the quarter and finally got one in her change that very day. She was as tickled to give it to me as I was to receive it! Three quarters left and my collection is complete.

A former student saw me at the library, where I was transferring some final exams I designed specifically for my DSPS students onto the lab computer. She ran up to me, gave me a huge bear hug, and thanked me profusely for being the best teacher she has ever had! I have seen her often during the past 2 years and have always asked how she’s doing with her English 3A requirement. Alas, she had dropped it twice, afraid to fail. I explained to her that we often learn more from failure than we ever do from simply replicating our past successes, and to stick with it for one semester as she may surprise herself with how well she’ll do.

Well she did: she passed the course with a 96%, an accomplishment she never gave herself credit for being capable of achieving. She told me how much my little pep talks did for her every time I encountered her on the campus—as well as my handy-dandy little trick for organizing the essay BEFORE starting to write it! Once she believed she was able to pass the course, she did—and she’ll be receiving her AA degree next week.

The man who was next door replacing the caved in septic tank before escrow closes on the house was outside when I started to leave. Noticing the HUGE pile of dirt he had excavated and knowing that I need “some” dirt to level the ground where my paver patio is going to go, I brazenly asked if he could spare a scoop for me to use in a backyard project. It would save me a lot of trips across the street with my wheelbarrow, so I figured nothing ventured, nothing gained. The excavation crew just left—and I have a big scoop of dirt in my yard to take to the patio in progress.

Finally, when I called the doctor about my severely swollen and throbbing wrist, there was an appointment available today, rather than 2 weeks down the road. That almost never happens.

So, even though over the long run it seems that life is bumpy, some days are smooth and straight. As the old saying goes, all sunshine makes the desert --- and I’m a slightly rainy person who enjoys that not all days are brilliantly sunny because then, when the sun does shine, the day stands out from all the rest.