thinking aloud

I play with dolls to escape the reality that I am growing up. I know- I am 28-years-old and should already be grown-up, but I still call my mom crying and fight with my sister like we are in grade school.

I'm learning about working full time, living on less, and being a role model for children. My job as a special-ed teacher aide challenges me: I teach math to third graders (finally am learning my times tables!), the alphabet song to a first grader, and the other day I found myself lecturing on forgiveness to my fifth graders after we watched a movie where a boy in an ice skating race pulled his opponent out of a frozen lake. I asked the kids what they would do if one of their enemies needed their help: "I would jump in the water with him, then push him down as I pulled myself out," "I would take his head and dunk him in and out of the water, over and over," "I would leave him there." You might have found yourself teaching forgiveness too if you were in my situation. For the most part, life is good. I'm glad I'm not 10 years old and that I don't have to ask permission to go to the bathroom.