A Story:

My mother lives across the street. My wife and I have four kids six and under. You can imagine how involved we are in each other’s lives. That’s one way to put it.

Or, you might say we live across the street from my mother because we simply couldn’t raise four kids without a tight knit village within throwing distance (and I can’t throw very far).

Also, my mother-in-law has furnished a bedroom in my mother’s house so that they can tag-team babysitting and carpool duties. We need a lot of support and we’re blessed to get it.

The connected blessing is that our kids have great relationships with our mothers. They’re absolute constants in each other’s lives. Our mothers tell us that it’s a gift for them. I say it’s a gift for our kids and us. Maybe it’s a gift for everyone involved. Great gift.

My mother has a tradition with the kids. Before she walks across the street or vise versa, they blow each other kisses. They each reach out, grab the kisses, and put them in their respective hearts for safekeeping. The kids love it and my mom loves it, another great gift.

Yesterday, as my mom was preparing to leave for a six-day trip to Florida she waved farewell to my son from her bedroom window while we passed her house. He asked me where she was going and for how long. I told him. This is what he told me back after a brief moment of thoughtful silence, “Well, I still have her kisses in my heart.”

A Parent’s Connected Reflection:

Time flies. I don’t enjoy rolling out of bed well before my family on many mornings and having to drive down the road without getting to spend any time with them at all; but what about the pieces of our lives together that I have indelibly engrained in my heart? What about the joyful play we engage in whenever we’re together? What about the fort building and the snuggling? What about the story telling, the reading, the singing, and the make believe?

Once again, the big guy reminds me that while we can’t and aren’t meant to spend every moment of every day together with the people we love we remain connected to the extent that we understand what a connection truly is.

Funny that kids, who have far less worldly experience that adults, sometimes seem to understand the concept of connection better than we do. Maybe it’s because they don’t tend to skew the realities of energy, spirituality, and love with the occasional other, and occasionally harsh realities we’ve encountered. Who knows?

Regardless, the reminder makes the reality come very clear in the blink of an eye. We are together. We are together in spirit, in energy, and in love. I would argue that we are each always together with anyone and everyone with whom we’ve ever shared a meaningful, spiritual, and deep connection. We’re in each other’s hearts. That is presence. That is a gift. Great gift.

An Educator’s Connected Reflection:

Each day comes with new and unique challenges.   Because we, and those we serve, are human, we experience ups and down. It’s a standard in the world of teaching, learning, and leading.

Another standard is that the students we serve weave their ways into our hearts. So do the families and our colleagues as well. The work we do is often so intense and critical that we get to experience deep depths of individual and collective challenge and triumph. With our hearts and the hearts of those we serve in mind we can remain connected even, and especially during the most challenging moments we face.

When we keep every celebration in our hearts we move forward with joy. When we swim in the sea of discovery made up of the symbolic light bulbs constantly turning on around us the subsequent light clarifies our vision. When we latch onto the myriad of miraculous thoughts, ideas, and connections that we’re gifted with each day in the business of education we gain strength to access each while confronting our trials together and with positive progress in mind.

Our hearts carry the foundation of why we teach in our collective belief that it all boils down to what’s best for each and every child we serve in each and every moment that we serve them, yet another great gift.

Our hearts are built to foster and maintain connections that our minds can sometimes forget, especially when clouded by hurt, fear, frustration, or even fatigue.

As parents, educators, and leaders, we’re well served to occasionally rely on our hearts to remind of the basics. It seems to me that when we accept life’s incredible gifts, even the seemingly mysterious ones, we tend to grow.

When I lead with what’s in my heart, no matter which hat I’m wearing, it all seems to work out. How about you?

Live. Listen. Learn. Lead.

Bring Your Best.