On Friday…

“Mrs. Driggers, what color bracelet would you like?,” asked one of my kiddos.

“Oooh, I’ll take rainbow.  I just love rainbows.  They bring me so much JOY,” I replied.

He wrote down ‘rainbow’ on a piece of paper and moved on to something else.  I sat and finished my snack – thinking nothing about the question.  I just figured I’d be adding to my collection of paper jewelry custom made by First Graders.  But, I was so wrong…

Fast forward to Monday…

My daughter had been sick for a few days and I stayed home from school in the morning with her.  When I walked in the door at noon, L came right over to me with a big smile,  said “here,” and handed me a rainbow colored friendship bracelet.  His face was beaming – smiling ear to ear.  I thanked him and noticed a buzz around the room.  Everyone in the class had a friendship bracelet on.  I felt the lump form in my throat and the smile form on my face.  He made one for everyone over the weekend.  My heart was so full.

At the end of the day, during our “end on a positive note” sharing circle, I couldn’t wait to share that L’s bracelet is what filled my heart with joy.   The first child to share immediately said “getting a friendship bracelet from L brought me joy today.” And then the next child and the next and the one after that, all said the same thing.  I could feel my heart swelling inside.  Then… it was L’s turn.  He looked at everyone when he spoke and said “making these bracelets and giving them to everyone brought me so much joy.”  I just looked him – holding back my tears as my huge smile was hurting my cheeks.  He gets it.  He gets what it means to be kind.  His act of kindness filled him with JOY.    He saw the impact it made on everyone.  I thought my heart would explode!

I told his mom about our sharing circle and how much happiness he brought to everyone.  She said she was so lucky and blessed to be his mom – so proud.  She said he was so excited when he got home Friday and shared his list and bracelet making plan.  (Apparently, he asked everyone what color bracelet they would like).  They agreed to start over the weekend and finish during the week.  But, L had other plans.  He started each day off with making some bracelets – determined to finish them by Monday.  Simply amazing!

I’m so lucky I get to be this kiddo’s teacher.  Each and every day we talk about ways to be kind and respectful humans – the world needs us!  L definitely gets what it means to be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud (thank you Maya Angelou).  He sure was the rainbow in my cloud yesterday!

(What L doesn’t know is just how special rainbows are to me.  Whenever I see a rainbow, I immediately take it as my dad saying hello from heaven.  Now, there’s double JOY when I look down at my arm!)

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