Can I say it again? Mmm! It's GOOD to be back!

No, seriously. Today was round two of the staff convocation meetings (I had this little ditty running through my head: "Second verse, same as the first, little bit longer, and now my butt hurts.").

The agenda began with Superintendent's Day, in which all FPSD employees gather together in this huge mega-church for the staff equivalent of a pep rally. I spent the first half hour a: feeling like I should be wearing a headcovering and b: indignantly thinking, "What kind of impressionable saps do they think we are? Feeding us all this sentimental rhetoric about changing the future and touching lives, love, inspiration, hope, blah, blah, blah."

But then I thought, "Hey! I actually like this stuff." I mean, really, how great is it that I get to work in a field that still aspires to service, integrity, community? The words love, hope, service and gratitude all featured largely in the various talks. I really knew I was a goner when the keynote speaker played a Mr. Rogers' videoclip and I teared up. (We're talking serious tear-duct action. I was honestly afraid that the psych's I was sitting with would notice. Who knows what they'd do with that kind of intel...)

But wait. There's more...

At a back-to-school BBQ I manned the free and reduced lunches and voter registration table. Here is the absolute best thing ever: an unprecedented number of families came for whom Spanish was their only language. Since I didn't have a classroom, I was free to run around, offering weak interpretations and warm introductions, muddling through bus routes and teacher assignments, and offering living proof that, however shy they might be of their English skills, they couldn't possibly sound more ridiculous than my Spanish.

I really felt God's faithfulness--even in the details. I had an outfit on this morning, and at the last minute changed (believe it or not, I almost never do that). So, there I was tonight, wearing an outfit purchased in Central America, speaking broken Spanish, and, hopefully, touching lives and living all that sentimental rhetoric that us impressionable saps love.

Mmm! It's GOOD to be back.