Today was our class ice-cream party, a reward for working so hard during the fun run. Working together, my class raised $81 a lap in pledges and brought in over $2200! That’s pretty good for a class of 19 students. Or is it 18? It gets a little confusing. I started with 21, then a boy was moved to another class and another boy moved to Ware. Then I got a new girl. A month after that, I got another girl. Then that second girl moved, but they never requested a records transfer so I just mark her absent every morning. Then the first new girl moved away. Last week another boy moved away. But this morning a new boy moved in. He’s pretty lucky getting to have an ice-cream party on his first day.

Even buying the ice-cream wasn’t simple. I grabbed a bag of the cheapest ice-cream cups. But they were processed in a facility that processes peanuts, so I had to grab a bag of the more expensive peanut free ice-cream cups, too. But I also had to grab something for the girl who’s lactose intolerant. And then there were all of the toppings. Fortunately, my students brought in a lot of those. I just brought the whipped cream and cherries. Though, according to about half my class, I got the wrong kind of cherries. Then again, the other half of the class thought they were just fine and took care of any extra.

I pulled the long shelf out into the middle of the room, lined up all of the toppings, passed out spoons, bowls, and ice-cream cups and sent the children down the assembly line of chocolate and sugar. There were gummy bears, sprinkles of all different colors, strawberries, caramel, chocolate syrup, and chocolate chips. All dumped on top of tiny cups of icecream. A few of my students asked me to quiet down the class so they could make announcements. “I want to say thank-you to everyone who brought in the stuff!” “This is the best party ever.” “Thank you, guys!”

I lost count of how many times I was declared “The best teacher ever!!!” And it only cost $25.

Remember when life was that simple? When you let yourself so completely get lost in an enjoyable moment and it became the best moment of your life? When the little things turned out to be more than big enough to fill your heart. When you were so excited, you just had to get out of your seat and dance. And you let yourself do it? I just stood safely behind the topping counter and watched them enjoy their moment.

Then as I cleaned up the spilled sprinkles, smeared chocolate, and escaped gummy bears, I made them all do sit ups and wall pushups before sending them off to Art class.