compassion

yesterday did not go as planned. after the martin luther king holiday i was looking forward to buckling down and accomplishing some school with S and B. but with blowing snow and treacherous bus routes, a local rural school cancelled classes. i watched the news without realizing how it would affect my day, after all, C goes to a private school and S and B don't have to worry about snow days! but a phone call and 20 minutes later, i was now the caregiver to a dear friend's daughter whose school was closed.

A is an adorable sweet 6 year old whom i simply love. but with her arrival i saw my plans for the day dissolve. she has downs syndrome so she needs more attention than another 6 year old might. and she had no interest in learning about copernicus, galileo, or astronomy. so while my day was pleasant, it was nonproductive. S and B were gems. they played with A and entertained her all morning. S played chess with her (she has her own set of rules and remarkably, usually wins as her pawn moves across 7 spaces to capture your king) . he spent 20 minutes setting up our old brio train set for her, only to have her drop it in 2 minutes for the lincoln logs. B graciously allowed her to play in her room with her most prized horse collection.

so last night i was lamenting to mark about my day and the school lessons not accomplished and he replied, "don't worry, hon, they learned more important lessons about compassion."

oh, thank you for those words! i needed to hear that, especially from him!

everyday gift: lessons in compassion