STINKY KNEES

As you may have guessed, I've been subbing again! I spent my day in a 1st grade classroom. They were a really sweet class, and lots of them were "old friends" of mine from subbing last year in kindergarten! After the morning recess, a little boy walked up to me and said, "Mrs. B? My knees stink." At this point, several things were running through my mind. Not the least of which involved dog feces on the playground. I asked him if he could show me where the problem was, exactly, buying myself some time to think. And maybe even to buy a vowel. As he pointed out the "stinking" spots on his knees--a red raspberry on each--he told me that he fell on the sidewalk in front of his house and thus got these scrapes. I didn't see any swollen, oozing pustules or any other cause for odor, nor did I detect an actual odor. Even so, he said that every time his knees touched his shorts (or anything else) they started to "stink". I sent him up to the nurse to get some special creme to take the "stink" out, and I'm happy to report he had a good day after that, "stink"-free. Did you know that after a bee "stinks" you, his "stinker" falls off? Just a bit-o-trivia for my knowledge-thirsty friends.

On another note, if you are follow the updates on any family blog links, you'll know that Callie has been making remarkable improvements! I told her mom, my sis-in-law Dana, that I am now a Callie Blog Junkie--I check in a couple times a day to watch her progress! Whenever I get down, or tired, or need an attitude adjustment, I just think about how hard this little girl is working to come back into her little body and suddenly nothing I'm doing seems quite so trying. I will close with something I read on another site/blog. It's stuck with me for a long time and will always remain one of my favorite pick-me-ups:

Viktor Frankl, Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist, is most famous to the public as a remarkable holocaust survivor whose incredible attitude remained intact throughout the horrific ordeal. In his book about the experience, Man's Search for Meaning, he says, "We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."

Here's to Callie's great attitude and fighting spirit! You go, girl!