Little Dragon update

Reminder: I use the initials "LD" for "Little Dragon" to refer to my students when one of them does something funny. This is because one of my students has a friend whose name is actually Dragon, which is awesome. So I stole his name so I could tell stories about my students while maintaining anonymity and hilarity. Also, special thanks to my friend Shane Swinnea for the great drawing of Little Dragon!

A couple of weeks ago, LD was really nervous about asking a girl to the school dance. His mom and her mom had spoken together and had decided that their two children liked each other, and, believe it or not, they were right! Of course LD and his girl are in 5th grade, so their moms probably still have a fairly accurate pulse on their children's feelings.

Apparently the girl said yes, because last Saturday LD sang me a song he wrote. Here are some samples of the lyrics:

"You are the other side of my soul." - also the title of the song.

"When I see you, the word 'cosmic' is written on my eyes." - heavy!

And perhaps the most interesting line of the song - "I need to keep working to make room for the other side of my soul."

And what was really great was how unselfconscious he was. He just laid his soul right out there (or at least the half that he is still in charge of). I was proud of him for being vulnerable, honest and confident. A tough combination to achieve!

In other news, another Little Dragon - a sweet second grade girl, tipped me a dollar in our lesson the other day. She said, "This is for you, for being a good teacher." It was so sweet, but man, it is tough to accept a dollar from a little girl. That's a lot of money to her. I refused, but she insisted. Then I said I would take it, but only if she would hold it for me. She agreed. Then I showed her how to make a mushroom out of George Washinton's head. He liked that and showed her mom, so I thought I was going to escape without having to take a little girl's money.

Then, as I was walking out to my car, I heard the door slam and a high-pitched voice calling, "You forgot this!!!". LD was running towards me waving the dollar bill in the air. I accepted it and thanked her. It is important to honor true generosity when you see it.

And hey...free dollar.