Observations

Everywhere today, there was joy. It was a really lovely day.

Maybe this is because ...
- its very close to a much deserved winter vacation.
- I fell asleep at eight last night.
- I read Deepak Chopra.

Who knows.

I observed my grandma for about an hour tonight. I was half reading Chopra, half watching grandma. She goes through the same routines every night in the kitchen. She puts away the dishes. She washes the rice pot. She dries them all and puts them away. Then she goes to take her medicine. Eats a few slices of dried fruit. Offers me a slice of pear and then takes one herself. Checks to see if all the stoves have been turned off. Closes the sliding door to the backyard. Then she sits and looks around. She tells me, "Better spray some ant spray just in case the ants decide to get on the dinner table." She is a slow moving shock of white hair. She wears this thick jacket with a native-american design on it. She yells at me, "Do you want your aunt to trip and fall? You never put your shoes away! Go take a shower!" I pretend to be a cat in tree pose and I tell her, "I'm a cat and I don't want to touch any water tonight." "Dirty cat!" "Yes, I am!" I continue to pretend read Chopra, she continues to pace around looking for something else to clean. I think I love being around her because she used to carry me while doing chores. I think I work late hours at school because I watched her lingering about the kitchen and the house, endlessly, for too many years.

*i* *love* *her*

So my partner teacher and I are not baking anything for our students, we are having them make art for Christmas presents this year. She will be painting wooden picture frames with them. I will be painting tiny board canvases with them. I bought tiny gift tags for them. Every one of them have complained about the winter vacation homework, the endless math problems, the countless paragraphs to do - but I think there's a lot of love in the air between all of us. We are a strange but warm family. These two weeks have been about them. Their choir performances. Their band performances. Their onstage play. They make my life feel really warm and special. I don't feel tired, its invigorating.

I ran three miles after school. Fifteen laps around the field with Perla. The clouds are pretty, I say. She says, yeah, all purple and blue. Waves of hair, I say.  Old, gray, hair, she says. We laugh and enjoy the beautiful sky. Students are playing soccer, waiting for their parents to pick them up, chasing their soccer coaches, hanging on the fence.

That's all for tonight. I think I will take the shower, after all.

Wishing you love, dear reader, whoever and wherever you are.