I miss them.  In Canada, I volunteered for years in a class of 12-year-olds.  Before that, I was a teacher of blind and low vision kids and teens.  I was the visiting teacher, working with one child in a classroom of sighted students.

My favourite word in teaching is “conversation”.  That’s what I loved.  It didn’t matter the topic as long as there was a light in the child’s eyes.

Some of the kids were short.  I was tall.  But our eyes were level.  And often there was a lovely arched bridge between theirs and mine.

Now … no kids. Oh, I see lots of them on the street but they don’t know me. I’m probably seen as a tourist … here today, gone tomorrow. Actually approaching one second and disappearing the next.

Once in awhile there’s eye contact between a kid and me, maybe a little smile from them. May more of that show up down the road.

I have a challenge. How can I move children back into my life? I’ll sit with that for a few days or weeks. Now is not the moment to problem solve.

I can feel it … a richer life is coming my way

(Smile)