Laughing

This morning I pressed the snooze button twice, finally waking up at 6:45 am.  With no light coming out of the windows in my bedroom, I was proud of myself for the accomplishment of putting feet on floor.  Once feet were on the floor, I remembered the 7:15 am faculty meeting.  I commute thirty minutes to my work.  So, after throwing myself together, I flew out the door and arrived last at the faculty meeting. 

Now, this was no ordinary faculty meeting.  It was the "let's gripe about uniforms" meeting.  Anyway, our principal was reminding us that we teachers had not been nearly strict enough on enforcing dress code.

Which is why there was a line of 5-10 kids in the office at 8:00 am with "uniform violations."  This means, for teachers, lots of eye-rolling and death looks from teenagers when we inform them of their violation.

Add to the uniform drama, the gray day, and the fact that today was composition notebook entry day in which all my classes have to write about an assigned topic at the outrageous length of FIVE sentences, I was fading quickly. 

By 12:45 pm, after lunch, I sat at my desk during some free time in which I was supposed to be productive and stared at my Bible.  I knew I needed to read it, but all I could do was just sit and stare blankly.  I allowed some self-pity to pile.

My last period of the day I had four tenth grade boys.  The nine other members of their class had left for an away basketball game.  Like the rest, they complained about the five sentence requirement for the composition entry.  By the time we got around to reading "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving, I was ready to yell, or cry. 

That's when one kid in the class volunteered to read.  Now, this kid doesn't have a speech impediment or a stutter.  He simply reads in a very stilted, awkward way...on purpose.  While he was reading, one of my students looked up and caught my eye.  We pursed our lips first, then held our hands up to our mouths, and then started making choking sounds to suppress the giggles.  Another student looked up at us with a smile that turned into a laugh.  The kid who was reading caught on and began giggling.  Then, I just let myself go- I laughed so hard I started crying.  Some of the boys fell out of their desks, laughing.  These tenth grade boys let out some high-pitched cackles that would rival the wicked witch of the west.  After we finished laughing, we read the rest of the story and I finished class five minutes early.

Praise God for five minute laughing extravaganzas.  It turned my day around.  A joyful heart is good medicine :)