Time to Stand and Stare

Last year I came across a poem that I love. It meant a lot to me, because although I love to stand and stare, I often don’t have (or make) the time!

A few weeks ago I was at my favorite Goodwill and found a beautiful book in the poetry section. For any Tasha Tudor fans out there, you’ll appreciate this one. Guess what I opened the book right up to? Yep, it was that poem I love. Most of my friends also know that I love cows, so it just happens that when you combine stopping to stare, and there are cows involved…well, it couldn’t be more perfect.

Would you like to see the poem? I had such a bad time holding the book and taking a picture, you’ll have to excuse the crooked. (Let’s remember that taking and editing pictures is not my specialty.)

“A poor life this if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.”

So, fast-forward a bit to last week. The weather was perfect, I was behind in most things, and I realized that we could all enjoy some fall weather and a day to stand and stare. I also remembered that Charlotte encouraged this (every once in awhile) and practiced a random day off with her students when the weather was perfect.

I won’t go on about what my students chose to do on their day “off”, but I was reminded and encouraged that we continue to learn, whether school is in “session” or not. I was a little astonished at their choice of activities that day. We spent the afternoon at our river hangout. It was peaceful, beautiful, and relaxing (sort of…a Crawdad was caught within the first two minutes of being there).

We had a refreshing day with plenty of staring.