Good morning!

I’m going to add a bunch of exclamation points in this post and pretend to be really peppy in hopes that the fake excitement actually turns into real excitement. It’s just hard to be excited when you’re coming back from a week-long vacation, y’know?

But, anyways, let’s do the ‘exclamation point’ thing and see if that works, yeah?!

HAPPY MONDAY!

This weekend was fantastic and not a bit productive! Ankur’s parents were in town and we got to show them around Harrogate and Cumberland Gap. It was so much fun being with family and it’s always so difficult to say goodbye! There may have been tears involved when we parted ways yesterday, but let’s not relive that part of the weekend. Let’s go through all the fun pictures instead!

Our Weekend:

Since they got in late on Friday night, we all slept in a little bit on Saturday morning. After we woke up and had our coffee/tea, we decided to head out to Cumberland Gap to hike the Fitness Trail. It’s only been a month and a half since I did this trail with my dad, but the green colors we saw back then have changed to oranges, yellows, and reds! Fall is here and we are l-o-v-i-n-g it!

The air was crisp and it was a little chilly when we first started hiking. But once we started walking a bit, we warmed up pretty quickly. The two-mile loop we did wasn’t very strenuous, but it was enough to work up an appetite.

We stopped by the mini Farmer’s Market on the way home to pick up some strawberry jam for breakfast. (Fun fact: the strawberry jam we like is made in Asheville, NC. That’s one of the places we want to visit before we leave the east coast!)

Once our tummies were happy and fed, we went back out to the Cumberland Gap area. We visited the Pineapple Tea Room and the Iron Furnace.

We walked around the Gap for a little bit, but, like most places around here, there wasn’t a lot going on. So, after an hour or so, we decided to head back home.

With the temperatures dropping and the wind blowing, we were all much comfier at home anyways. We pulled out Mexican Train Dominoes and settled in for the evening.

On Sunday, we explored Ankur’s campus in the morning, did some shopping in the afternoon, and played some more Mexican Train Dominoes. (This game never gets old). Around 6PM, we said our goodbyes and I started this blog post, along with some preparation for the week ahead!

It was extra emotional to say goodbye to family on top of my week-long vacation coming to an end. But, I just keep reminding myself that Winter Break is around the corner and it’ll be here before I know it!

I’m sure once I see the kiddos today, I’ll feel much better about going to work.

And, probably, after I have a cup of coffee. Or two.

So, I’ll get to it.

Have a good one!

Questions of the Day:

• How far do you live from your family?

• What did you do this weekend?
  
• What’s your favorite board game? 

Yesterday, a kid called me “Miss Brownie.”

He thought I didn’t hear him, but when I heard him whisper it to his friends, I looked up, made eye contact with him and knew – immediately – that he was talking about me.

I gave him the benefit of the doubt. 

1) I am pretty brown compared to all the other folks he’s interacted with.

2) He’s in 4th grade. He doesn’t know any better.

3) My real name is hard to say.

So, using this as a “teachable moment,” I said, “I don’t know if you’re talking about me right now, but if someone were to call me “Miss Brownie,” I would be offended. It doesn’t feel too good to be called that.”

Then, in true PBIS fashion, I suggested something he could do instead. “If you don’t know my name, you could always ask me and I’d be happy to tell you.”

The kid looked at me with his arms crossed over his chest and said, “Well, what is your name?”

“Miss Divya.” (They call teachers by their first name at this school so I’m going with it. It works in my favor because it would have taken me all year to get used to being called, “Mrs. Mathur.”)

He then turned to his friends and whispered, “I like Miss Brownie better.”  He turned back to me and said, “What, are you a substitute teacher or something?” 

At which point, the little rage-character took over the control panel on my insides. But I kept my cool and I walked over to him, looked him straight in the eye and said, “No. I’m not. I’m a teacher at this school. But even if I were a substitute teacher, I would hope that you’d show ANYBODY – teacher or not – a little more respect than you’ve just shown me. And, if you’d like, we can hang out tomorrow during your lunch and practice what ‘respect’ looks like and sounds like.”

Needless to say, he apologized.

Whether it was because I threatened to take away his precious lunch time or because he actually felt bad, I appreciated the apology.

But it’s not over.

I feel like this isn’t going to be the last time I’ll encounter situations like this.

I just hope that, over the course of the year, we can have conversations about this. Discuss what it means to look different, act different, and be different. Yet be tolerant – and respectful – of the people we share this world with.