Mondays

I was doing my usual "changing lives and taking names" thing today when a few students caught me off guard.  We were talking about the word "nervous," and they were voting as to whether that word had a positive, negative, or neutral connotation.  They called negative, a decision with which, within context, I definitely agreed, but every teacher has to play devil's advocate now and then, so I brought up the possibility of positive nervousness-- like on one's wedding day, for instance.

A student scoffed and said something along the lines of, "I know some people who say their wedding day was the worst day of their life!" To which I had some smart mouthed response (super mature, as per usual!), and some thoughtless comment about "...and I can tell you why the divorce rate is so high..." eventually came out of my stupid mouth.

We got back on track and finished the assignment we were working on together.  At the end of class, I asked if anyone had any questions.  A girl respectfully raised her hand and quietly said, "You said you know why everyone gets divorced. Why is it?"

And I almost died.  Of my chronic stupid disease.  Where do I get off, making huge, sweeping statements about a terribly heart-wrenching situation I know nothing about? Ugh. I irritate myself.

Anyways, I gave my answer, as carefully as I could, and made sure to emphasize that I don't have all the answers, but I do have theories and hopefully they are reason-based.

That sweet little girl then gave a compelling argument for why marriage shouldn't exist at all.  How much simpler things would be--because then, we wouldn't have to face the inevitable disappointment of broken commitment.

I need to listen more and speak less.  Happy Monday to you, soldier.

xoxo Bec