The Author

My photo
I am a high school English teacher, and mother of two charming little ones of my own. I teach in a high poverty urban charter school, while I live in a typical American suburb that has frequently been rated one of the safest cities in the country. It is a paradox I struggle with constantly, but it is my life.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Enthusiasm

I love Vinny's enthusiasm for life. He" is just incredibly fun and enthusiastic.  He has just discovered the phrase "dreaming" and has been using it frquently. Not gonna lie, it's hysterical.
Yesterday, we pulled up to Chuck e. Cheese and he says, "Yea! I've been dreaming of this!" And then last night at the Dodger game, once we climbed up the hill and could finally see the stadium (we always park outside the stadium to save money), he cried, "The Dodgers Game! I've been dreaming of this game!" Humorously, he kind of had... it was his first game this year and he'd been looking forward to it all week. He told everyone he saw yesterday, "I'm going to the Dodgers game tonight!" And nothing is anticlimactic with him. He also had a little celebration over his frozen yogurt, exclaiming, "In my very own little Dodgers helmet." He starts eating it, "Mmmm!" I ask, "How is it?" and he delights, "Cold!"
Another great moment of last night. We are walking up the stairs to the bathroom and he mutters, "Bad people!" Surprised, I inquire, "Why?" He responds, "Look what a mess t?hey are making." Ha! He was right... there were peanut shells everywhere. 
I asked him, "Vinny, how'd you get to be such a big boy?" His response, "I'm growing up."  Yup... no kidding.
Anyway, where was I going with this? Oh yeah, enthusiasm. I delight in hi enthusiasm for life.  But I think I know where he gets it.
I was at an educator's conference a couple of weeks ago and a friend my colleagues and I made kept saying to me, "I love your enthusiasm." Honestly, I thought she was being sarcastic, so I apologized and she said, "No, I'm being serious. I wish I could get that excited about a cupcake. Okay, cupcakes are awesome.... but someone else said the same thing about my reaction to a new format for something we will be using. What can I say? It is just how I am. I got voted Biggest Child at Heart in the teacher superlatives this year. It is how Marc is too.

Marc posted a picture of us on Fb recently and one of his friends asked why we were so happy and wondered if we were being sarcastic. We weren't. I explained it was just a good day and a friend of mine commented, "can't people just be happy?"It is true. Why is enthusiasm in our society so often seen as sarcasm?

It is not that Marc and I are always happy. Anyone who knows us well will certainly know that we have our times of stress and grief too. Both of us have gone through rough spots where life seems more depressing than not, but I think we just life more tolerable if we choose to really really enjoy life's happier moments, the simple things that bring joy.

I hope Vinny never loses his enthusiastic attitude. Sometimes I think it is just him being a kid, but other times, I think it is just him being ours. I hope so.
ddhf

No comments:

Post a Comment