My husband has always mocked me for being a collector.  It’s true. I collect things.  And, I’ll admit, some of my collections do nothing for my “cool” factor.  For instance, not many people respect a clown collection.  And even though most people had a rock collection at some point in their lives, I’ll admit that mine may have been one of the few where each rock was labeled with his/her own name….

Since childhood, my collections have changed.  I have less things laying around, but I am obsessed with collecting  less tangible things; such as memories.  While the memories themselves are intangible, I am also a big fan of collecting ways to make them more concrete; more tangible.  The number of pictures that I have taken of my children, for instance, is just a tad bit embarrassing.  But when I look back at the things I have done over the years, I have never regretted taking too many pictures.  And there have been a few times, where I have regretted not taking enough.

I started this blog as a place to collect moments of joy…so that I could return to them when I needed a reminder of  all the joy I have found in my journey; and to challenge myself to keep collecting moments of joy rather than passing them by in the self-centered oblivion that we all fall victim to from time to time.

One of my greatest sources of joy is my children.  My boys are a constant source of sleep-deprivation, challenge, exhaustion, worry, and PURE JOY.  But even before my boys were born, I had hundreds of children go through my classroom over the years who also brought me joy.  And then there is my little brother; who has been a great source of joy to me and my family from the moment he was born.  Children are wonderful.

Children are challenging and exhausting; and wonderful.  They are FULL of honesty and insight, and as an elementary school teacher, I can assure you that little goes unnoticed by a child.  Children know MUCH about what goes on at their homes, and they aren’t afraid to share what they know.  Just this year, I had a first grader tell me that I could call his mom on her cell phone because: “She never goes to work.  She just shops all day and spends my dad’s money.”

I’m serious.  You can’t make this stuff up.

Earlier this week, I pulled a student aside to have a conversation about a situation that had happened earlier in the day.  While I will spare you the details, I will share that when asked what had happened, his opening statement was: “Well, I was over by Daisy because she didn’t think I was a werewolf.  See? I was showing Daisy my werewolf moves.  You know, because I’m a real werewolf…”

Again.  I’m serious.  You can’t make this stuff up.

As I suppressed my giggles, and summoned all my teacher-strength to maintain a straight face; I thought about the joy his ridiculous proclamation brought me. And I realized that it was time for me to be a better steward of these amazing moments of joy that have been given to me.  This blog is perfect for reflection about my quest for finding joy in my journey, but I need a place to capture those daily one-liners that the children in my life so freely give.

So the next time I find joy in something my three-year-old says or in a ridiculous statement that a first grader of mine declares, I am going to collect them carefully in a new place: in my kid-speak treasury.  You are welcome to read, to laugh, to enjoy, to share…and you can let me know if there is a great kid-speak moment that needs to be remembered there that hasn’t been already.  Kid’s say funny things.  But they also say insightful things that will challenge your perspectives and will challenge you to be a better you.  So this is a place where I can collect those kid-speak moments and allow myself  to be challenged by the honesty and insight that they bring.

My brother and Keilan… two of the amazing “kids” that make my life sweet!