what you ask for

I planted my garden late. I just am getting my first fruits from it now. Radishes... They come up first and usually I am so happy to see them. I picked a bunch today, and put them in a little bowl for supper. They were terrible. I mean super astringent and a bit woody. These radishes, Cherry Bells, are usually slightly sweet and not as spicy as store bought ones. Sad.

As a teacher, I live in this world. Tons of effort and attention, and sweat and tears, and emotionally pushing into kids lives, and sometimes it comes to nothing at all. A kid sees you as a teacher and shuts off completely. I did this to all of my teachers, without exception, until I got to college, so I know about this. Who can blame them really. We all have experienced bad teachers. I ask my students sometimes about their  stories, and they tell me things that seem so amazingly bad... its hard to imaging how they came through it at all. So I strive against, sometimes a flood, of bad experience and try to undo a lot of damage. Not all teachers are bad. I have met some very good ones, but as with most things, it only takes a couple to do some real damage. Its no wonder really that a few students don't open up. Actually, its kind of a miracle that any of them do. But they do...sometimes unexpectedly like the sunflower that Nora picked from under the patio in the back of my house. The one that I didn't plant, that just grew there from the seeds that fell from the bird feeder above it.

db