Karma

While we were in DC, my kids and I came across a whole bunch of lost items... One of the boys found $50 in the bathroom of a restaurant. He turned it in to the manager. A girl found $2 on the sidewalk and gave it to a local street performer. In the House of Representatives cafeteria, I found a diamond and emerald earring stuck to my shoe and gave it to a cashier. We could gave capitalized on any of those opportunities, and probably lived with ourselves just fine. But we didn't. And today, karma said thank you.

I lost my engagement ring today. It fell out at the gym and I didn't realize it until I left. I freaked out, got all kinds of hysterical, panickedly raced back and- someone had turned it into the front desk. I was amazingly relieved. You have no idea how good I felt and the gratitude I had for the stranger who I'm SURE has some good karma coming her way.

Patriotic Pride

So I just came back from a field trip to Washington DC with 14 lovely - cranky, tired, whiny, petty - lovely middle schoolers. It was an exhausting adventure filled with monuments and rain and snow and cherry blossoms and museums and fast food and sunglasses and duck faces and photo opps and no iPods and hugs. It was crazy. And it made me grateful for many things- my job, despite the manic fatigue needed, but also grateful to be an American. I know that we can be an arrogant and ignorant nation with a history (present) of bigotry and bias, but we are also a nation of passionate perserverence and ambition. I know that I am privileged to be who I am, where I am and wish I could be more appreciative of the opportunities I have.