The Seeds of Peace | Part I

Yesterday was an awful day. One of the worst ones I've had in a long time. The stress of work along with the consistent growing pains caused my partner and I to fight. It was overwhelming and all around yucky.

And then something happened that made me remember why it all matters.

Allison and I were co-teaching one of our Itty Bitty Theater Workshops. One little girl, Maddie, fell while playing and bonked her chin. She cried. I walked with her over to the book nook to rest and read while she recovered.

Like a superhero/drama therapist, Allison brilliantly weaved the incident into what was happening on stage at time. She created a story with 12 children about a group of animals and playing together and an elephant getting hurt. She used the story to help the kids process their feelings about what had happened to Maddie.

In the midst of all of this brilliance, the littlest of all the girls in the class, Isiana, comes up to me with her hands cupped. To most of us, her hands appeared empty. But, she said to me, "It's candy. For her. It will make her feel better." I told Isiana that she had to stay on stage with Allison but that I would take her candy over to the healing girl.

When I got there, Maddie was still crying and being comforted by her mother. I interrupted them, showed them my hands full of invisible candy and said, "This is for you. From Isiana. She wants you to have it so you will feel better." Maddie's face lit up like a Christmas tree. I asked her if there was anything she wanted me to say to Isiana for her. "Thank you" was all she said.

When I returned to Isiana, I told her, "Maddie ate the candy and she told me to tell you 'thank you.'" Once again, Christmas tree.

The smiles of little girls. The spirit of giving and compassion. The power of imagination. These are all the seeds of peace. This is worth all the growing pains that life will throw at me.