Shiny Happy People

If you aren't familiar with this song, it's by R.E.M. with Kate Pierson (of the B-52s) helping out on vocals. I love her voice! The song is maybe a little cheesy, corny, but I don't care. It came to mind today as I encountered many shiny, happy people both in person and by phone. Yesterday, although I didn't mention it, my encounters weren't quite as shiny and happy. But, hey, what are you going to do? Some days you get back what you put out; some days you don't. As someone who at least aspires to be shiny and happy -- as I simply prefer it to being dull and sad -- I usually expect that others will respond in kind. It doesn't always happen, but believing it makes life better.

Today it all fell into place. Being a scoring leader is a lot of teaching, except that some of my "students" are more highly educated than I am, but less experienced at this particular task. By the way, I always think of my students in any context that way. I tell them, "I'm at the front of the class because I know more about writing than you do. Period. There are things you're good at that I don't know how to do." This blows some of them away, and it comes from the many bad (arrogant, condescending) examples of teachers I had throughout my education at all levels. Those bad examples ended up being quite valuable as I developed my own philosophy on teaching, probably even more than the good examples. My older students, in particular, appreciate that I don't put myself above them. And it tends to make all of them, young and old, pay more attention to what I say and treat me with the same respect I extend to them. But, as usual, I'm digressing from my point.

Every day I have at least one of my raters (those I'm supervising) call or email during or after our shift to tell me how much my compassion and humor helped them get through the day and become better at their work. That is tremendously rewarding, not because I need the praise but because I'm glad that I can help them and, ultimately, the students whose essays we're scoring. Today I had one rater who was freaking out about starting. I spoke with him at length and gave him some tips to help him prepare. (I've probably mentioned that at the beginning of each shift, raters have to test for accuracy before they can begin scoring. It can be a big head trip, especially if they don't pass the first time. That was the situation this young man was in.) When he passed, he called to tell me how much it had meant to him that I took the time to comfort and support him when he so needed it. He said he wants to be on my roster every day. I doubt that will happen, but it's good to know he wants it to.

The minute I finished my shift, I had to run out to get a new faucet for my kitchen sink, which I discovered on Sunday was leaking, for how long I'm not sure. Everything was a big mess and my contractor came by to look at it on Monday. Yesterday, I went to the wrong Lowe's to pick it up. Not sure how the mix-up happened, but it took the people at the Lowe's I went to nearly an hour to figure out they didn't have my faucet. Today I went to the right store and was in and out in five minutes, thanks to the efficiency of that store's employee. After that, I went to Michael's to get -- yes, you guessed it -- yarn. But this is special yarn; my young associate graduates from college at the end of the month and I'm making him a blanket. I just got the graduation announcement/invitation today, and as I told him by text, I nearly wept with joy and I couldn't be more happy and proud if I had birthed him myself. While in the craft store, I asked a young man in a nearby aisle for his opinion on my color choices. He was very helpful, and said the colors didn't look at all "girly", but he might be the wrong person to ask because he was there buying beads with his girlfriend. Help and humor! I love it.

My next and last stop was at the auto parts store to get new wiper blades. I'd had mine on last Friday and when I started my car on Saturday and turned them off, they got tangled in each other and the driver's side one snapped off, taking the pivot arm with it and leaving the passenger side one halfway up, refusing to budge. I haven't left home too much, but I have driven a little and I'm kind of surprised I didn't get a ticket with that setup. Anyway, the young man in the store happily came out to put them on for me and even asked me to make sure they worked. That was above and beyond, I thought, but maybe that's just because I usually do it myself.

So many shiny, happy, AND helpful people in my life today! Although I always wish for that to be the case, I know it isn't every day; that makes me savor it all the more when it is. Stay shiny!