Hey y’all!
Two weeks ago at Training Camp we had a day where the girls on my squad had separate sessions from the guys. At one point the ladies had the opportunity to ask any questions we wanted of two men my dad’s age. The question was asked “as a girl who feels things very deeply and all the time, how can I connect with my dad who doesn’t like showing emotion”. This was an excellent question and I love the answer given. He said “Join him in his work. If he’s raking the leaves, go pick up a rake and work with him. He’ll feel more comfortable if his hands are busy.” I thought this was great advice and it really made sense to me. I’m super close with my dad and we do this all the time, not rake the leaves, but talk while we work. But my dad is also good with showing emotion so I kind of let the idea go to the back of my mind.
Fast forward to today and it’s my first day back at work since October 7th. I teach a Kindergarten/1st grade class with 4 students in it. Another teacher’s little girl, C, is one of those 4 students. She saw me in the parking lot and called my name until I turned around. She ran to give me the biggest hug you can imagine from a Kindergartener and smiled up at me saying “Miss ErBekah, you’re here!” She stays with her mom until opening assembly, so with a very full heart I hugged her back and told her I’d see her later.
The director’s son, E, is also in my class and usually he stays in the main room until all the other kids arrive. Well today he saw me walk in and within 10 minutes he was in my class room hanging around and asking if he could help. I gave him lots of little jobs I needed done and we talked as we worked for 20+ minutes to set up the class room. He helped me right up until he had to go to opening assembly.
Now E is not a hugger at all! He has always been helpful and normally I would think he was just being sweet, but with the new perspective I got at Training Camp I realized just how special this morning was. While C and E express how they feel differently, it’s the exact same emotion they’re experiencing. I love both kiddos so much and I’m incredibly grateful that now I can better recognize the beauty in our different relationships.
Thank you friend! It’s pretty cool when God shows us this kind of thing!
I absolutely love the way you connected what we learned at training camp to your life back home. That’s so beautiful you could see and make those connections