My thumbs are green. My index fingers are actually more green, though. All ten of my fingernails have little green lines on the white part of the nail. You know, it didn't actually occur to me that food coloring might stain my hands. I don't know why; it just didn't. And when I saw my hands had completely transformed into this intense, dark green color, I had a moment of worry, in which I thought, "Uh oh, I hope this comes off!"

And in fact, much of it did wash off, just not all of it. Imagine me, standing at the sink in my classroom, giggling to myself, frantically scrubbing suds all over my hands, and shaking my head in disbelief, hoping no one walks in on me and discovers what a silly girl I really am.

Oh well, a little green dye never hurt anyone. At least, not unless it's eaten. I'm personally allergic to artificial food coloring. It's true -- Red 40 is not my friend.

Oddly enough, it's times like these, sitting here typing with my newly green hands, that I find myself thinking, "I love being a teacher!" I mean, making play-dough?? When have I ever done that? Never, that's when! It was so much fun! There I was yesterday, mixing all sorts of ingredients into this giant mixing bowl. I got flour and green food coloring on the table (it washed off, thank god!). I didn't have enough water in the mixture at first, but then I added too much and needed to play around with the amounts of everything. And I got this total childlike enjoyment out of making a huge sticky mess and loving every minute of it! I'm sure I must have had the same look on my face making the stuff as my little students did today playing with it. After they'd formed their little turtles and snakes (hence the need for green play-dough), as well as little reptile eggs out of this crazy concoction (the class title IS "Eggs, eggs, eggs," after all), one kid looks up at me with this manic look on his face, smiling from ear to ear, and said, "Look! A snake! LOOK AT THE EGGS I MADE!!"

"That's fantastic!" I told him. And though I thought it was impossible, he smiled even bigger. I'm surprised my brain didn't shut down due to Cuteness Overload.

My friend, Bobbi, asked how my job was going when she called me tonight. I told her about the Eggs class and I also told her about watching after Victor. "So I'm basically surrounded by children!" I said. "It's wonderful!"

"Wow! That's so great.. for you..." she said, almost hesitant in adding that last part.

I laughed, remembering B's lack of fondness for young children. She adores her 4 year old niece, but she also rather adores handing her back to her mother at the end of the day. The way she said it just cracked me up. "For you..."

And it's funny, because that reminded me that not everyone likes kids, not everyone likes teaching, not everyone would be happy doing what I do. But I am happy, and that's SO cool to me. That has always been my number one dream for myself... to enjoy my work. Especially because I know how rare that can be for people. And I do. I'm glad I can finally say that again.

~~Meg