Sweet Words of the Day...

Loud chattering heard all the way down the hall.

My heels click, click, click down the hallway and suddenly, loud "SHHHHHH! SHHHH! She's coming!" voices.

Suddenly, the loud chattering stops.

I walk into my classroom to find all 24 of my sweet students sitting nicely in their desks, hands in their laps. Innocent smiles on each face...

Naturally, I know what they want. A marble. And some tickets. Marbles count toward class parties -- tickets are for acting especially good individually. It makes me smile inside and I give them a half-suspecting smirk.

"Wow..." I say, as if I have no idea what they're up to. They giggle with delight.

As I near my desk, quite possibly the sweetest words come out of one of the most devious (but lovable) students I have.

"Mrs. Bristow, you look very beautiful today," he tells me in the most sincere way his little voice can express.

"Oh, why thank you. Aren't you so sweet?" I reply in a sincere, sing-songy tone.

Just one of the billion reasons why my job rizzocks.

And the big, free hugs at the end of the day are some icing on the cake, too.