Mood Swings

I arrived  at school this morning with, unbeknownst to me, cheddar cheese on my forehead. 

It was not my proudest moment. 

This morning at my house had been chaotic, as Friday school mornings can be with 4 people and all the complications getting ready can bring. 

I had gotten everyone else ready, lunches packed, backpacks on, homework signed, gym shoes packed, lunch money distributed. All was finally well, and I picked up my breakfast Hot Pocket (ham and cheese) to leave.  Someone was walking in, I was walking out, we collided, the Hot Pocket ended up in the grass, someone was crying (not me), and the day began.  

I got to school and had a disorganized assortment of bags (computer bag, lunch bag, bag of books) to wrestle with. 

Then someone was parked in my parking spot. 

A teacher saw me in my frazzled state and quietly said, "You have something on your forehead." 

Yes, it was Hot Pocket cheese. Apparently it had exploded as it fell. 

Lovely. 

I wiped it off, went into the library, and tried to focus on turning this wildness around. 

At that point, a student said, "Can you think of another book like this one?" I thought about it, had a couple in mind, and went to find the book I was looking for.  

Then he said, "I haven't read a book in two years.  But I read this one in a week. It's pretty weird." 

And that took my breath away.

As I thought of it, I had never seen him in the library for anything other than to make up a test.  

He has been there last week for media center orientation and checked out a book. He said that he just opened it up to start reading it, then noticed he was 50 pages in. Before he knew it, he had read the whole thing. 

And he wanted another book. 

Just like that, my lousy exploding-Hot-Pocket-parking-space-taken-disorganized-trying-to-not-be-late morning was turned around. 

I firmly believe that there is a book for every reader.

Some people will read anything, including the cereal box. Others have a narrow vision of what they want to give their time to. Some people prefer reading with their eyes, others with their ears or fingers. Some people want a challenge, others want a relaxing break from complexity. Some want something new, others read the same book again and again.

But there is a book for every reader. 

This morning, one of my students discovered that; I got to be reminded of it.

All in all, it was a really great morning.