Tag: blessed
How Sweet It Is To Be Loved
I write a lot about my kids and my students. I write about school and life and many other ramblings. I rarely, though, take the time to write about my husband. But, if anyone in the world deserves his very own blog post, it is Chris. Chris is one of the most amazing men I have ever met. He is the perfect mix of smart, funny and caring. Chris’s intellect blows me away, and most of the time I have to ask him to “dumb down” some of our conversations. Chris reads so much about so many topics. He is that guy who reads the owners manual of the new product before he uses it! Chris is a thinker. I can tell when he is really in deep thought by his gaze off into space and the way his mouth twitches with each idea.
Besides being so smart, Chris is incredibly loving and patient. He rarely raises his voice or loses his temper. In a house full of teen and tween girls, he has mastered the ability to not react to endless eye rolls and attitude in abundance. He is in charge of bedtime each night. And even with the older girls, he still goes into each room and prays with each girl. One of my favorite moments each and every night is listening to he and Kelsie sing “You are my sunshine.” It chokes me up every dang time.
One of the many things about Chris that drew me to him (besides those blue eyes) was his sense of adventure. He loves to try new things and see new sights. When we were dating we would head downtown (on a school night!) to try and new restaurant in OTR. When we went to Italy for our honeymoon, Chris had planned every single detail of our trip and we moved about the country with ease! We ate in the best restaurants, stayed in unique places, drank ALL the wine. It was like living a dream.
I could go on and on about my amazing husband – like his ability to build me anything I ask for, or his work ethic that is unmatched, or his knack for cooking the most elaborate recipes. But, the thing that I absolutely adore most about my partner for life is the way he loves. Chris gets it. He loves selflessly. He gives all of himself. He surrounds me with feelings of safety and security. He has the ability to make me feel like the only other person in the world when we are together. I should have issued a **SAP** warning at the beginning of this post, but I just can’t help but gush about the man I married.
I hope that someday he will understand my devotion to and adoration of him. I feel so blessed to get to live this life with him. Things are not champagne and rose petals every day….that is not reality, but even when things get rocky and rough, I cling to him because I know that he is our firm foundation and that with him everything will be okay.
Ladies, find you a man who makes you feel this way. It’s the greatest feeling in the world to be loved like this. And if you are lucky enough to have a man like this in your life, tell him often how special he is. Be thankful for your once in a lifetime love. I know that I am.
**Edit*** Sitting here in my office listening to Chris and the girls watching a Disney movie reminded me of one of his most endearing traits…Chris belly laughs at movies, whether he has never seen it or he has seen it ten times. He does not hold back his loud, hearty laugh. I usually laugh more at him laughing than l do at whatever it is we are watching. I can’t believe I forgot that in my original post!
Lucky Duck
I recently saw an idea on Instagram from one of the many teachers I follow about using a rubber duck to reward students and to give them special privileges. I’ll be honest, at first I thought it seemed a bit cheesy and didn’t think that my students would respond to it at all. I honestly didn’t dig any deeper into how she used it, because I just didn’t think it would be something that would “work” with my kids.
Yesterday, though, while in line at Meijer, I noticed some small rubber ducks in the checkout line. They were part of the last minute, impulse buy section right where you checkout. They were only .59 cents, so I grabbed one and decided right then to try it for the month on March in my room (March – lucky…kind of works). When I got to my room I sat that cute little duck in the front of my classroom and just waited for the questions. Of course, as soon as the students arrived the questions started. “Why is there a rubber duck in our classroom?” “Mrs. Taylor, whose duck is that?” “Does the duck have a name?” “Is it a boy duck or a girl duck?” I just love 4th graders!
I explained to my students that he was a lucky duck and that one of them would be his caretaker for the day – which made them a lucky duck too. Being the lucky duck means that that student got to be my errand runner for the day, first in line for lunch and recess, and anything else that might come up during the course of our school day. They were ALL IN! I told them that during our morning work time I would randomly choose a student (ClassDojo) and IF that student was on task and getting their morning work done, they would be the Lucky Duck of the day! Now I really had their attention. I chose the Lucky Duck and set our new little rubber friend on that student’s desk. All day when I needed a little help, my real life Lucky Duck would jump up and do their job! It was the cutest thing I have ever seen. Y’all, this cheap little rubber duck brought new life into our classroom today!
It’s been a long, rough school year, not only for teachers but also for students. I started the year by saying that these kiddos will remember this year forever, and I wanted to make those memories happy and ones that they would talk about for a long time. Who knew that a little rubber duck could help me do that?!? I’m so blessed to get to spend my days with such energetic, loving. amazing little humans. I truly believe that I am the LUCKY DUCK!
Julie Anne Taylor 