An Award for Enthusiasm

Have you ever been to a kindergarten graduation? Or maybe a preschool graduation? If you want some smiles -  the good kind of smiles that make you have hope for the future - then you might want to drop in on one of those ceremonies sometime. 

I went to one granddaughter's kindergarten graduation last night and will get to go to another granddaughter's on Friday. The one last night was at a small Christian school and the kids perform for their families. First they recited a Bible verse for every letter in the alphabet and then they sang songs. One was about bringing home pets and the kids really enjoyed singing that one's funny lyrics. 

Children this age are always cute. They lose their hats when they get too wound up in doing the motions of their songs and then panic because they have been told to keep that hat on. They play with the tassels on the hats when they get bored with the whole proceedings. Sometimes they consider wandering away, but kindergarten teachers are very talented at keeping their ducks in a row. Last night, one of the little girls was obviously very shy. But she was a problem solver. She covered her eyes with her hands so she couldn't see everybody watching her when she went up to get her diploma. The only trouble with that is she couldn't see where she was going. So now and again she'd have to peek and that made her giggle. She was very cute.  

After they handed out the certificates for completing kindergarten, the teachers gave every child another certificate as an award. We had best singers, best helpers, best a lot of different things. My granddaughter got the award for Enthusiasm. I told her that had to be one of the best awards to get. Enthusiasm can take you far and without it, life and work would be pretty dull.

"Enthusiasm is excitement with inspiration, motivation and a pinch of creativity." (Bo Bennett) 

Without enthusiasm, writers like me might never come up with new stories. Enthusiasm is that big puff of wind that launches you on a project whether it's painting the living room, planting a garden, or writing a story. Perseverance is what keeps you going when that enthusiasm begins to ebb. But you need both. Right now I'm needing some enthusiasm to find the end of my work in progress and lots of perseverance. I can hear the characters talking on that last page, but I'm running through wet cement to get there.

"Enthusiasm is contagious. Be a carrier." (Susan Rabin) 

Maybe I should have hung around my granddaughter a little longer. Hope you are feeling enthusiastic about what's going on in your life right now. Thanks for reading.

Reminder - The time to sign up for my giveaway is running out. If you haven't entered and would like to be in the drawing, let me know. It runs through the end of May and the 5 winners will have their choice of one of my books.

Kindergarten Smiles

Any of the rest of you on dinosaur dial-up internet? I live out in the boonies and so unless I want to go satellite, this is my only choice. But the dinosaur is moving slow tonight. He must be in deep water or maybe those tar pits they talk about on the movies. It's taken me fifteen minutes to even get to this screen to begin.

Maybe my biggest problem is that I'm feeling rushed for time right now with my book not finished and everything else needing to be done. Or at least a lot of everythings. My problem is now and has always been that I think I should be able to do it all. Write books, keep the house shoveled out and the laundry done, build new rooms, paint walls, pick strawberries and cherries, bake strawberry shortcakes and cherry pies, take care of the grandbabies and share in and enjoy all their special events, go hear Darrell's group sing, help my mom, do church stuff, take walks, play with the dogs, and blog. And that's just some of the things I don't want to give up doing. You notice I didn't mention sleep. I'm trying not to give that up, but the nights are getting shorter. And I'm getting sleepier. Plus, I've read that sleeping helps you lose weight, so the opposite is probably true. Not enough sleep helps put the pounds on. So does that mean more walking or less making strawberry shortcake?

I do finally have strawberries this year after three years of the deer eating the plants off to the ground in the fall and spoiling the next spring's crop. Strawberries right out of the patch, full of sunshine, can make a person practically float off the ground with their sweet goodness. Go pick you some if you get a chance and enjoy.

But I didn't really intend to go on and on about my totally out of control list of "gotta do's." What I wanted to talk about is kindergarten smiles. I went to my granddaughter's kindergarten graduation in WV last night. She was so proud and so cute. One of the teachers or maybe the principal said that there is no way you can look at a kindergarten kid and not smile. At least not when they're on their good behavior. These kids wore blue caps and gowns and got diplomas. They also each got a reward for doing something the best. Ashley got the kindest and friendliest award. Her dad was wondering if her little sister would have voted on that one, but it's great that she is considered such a sweetheart in her class. Other kids got awards for things like most energetic, sunshine attitude, best improved, most artistic, and then the math and phonics stuff too. But the teachers came up with a special and unique award for each kid. What a great pat on the back for those kids who left feeling appreciated and good about themselves! And all us moms and dads, grandmoms and pops, aunts and uncles left smiling. Because the principal was right. You couldn't look at those fifty kids in their caps and gowns marching in to receive their kindergarten diploma and not smile. And take pictures. The kids probably still have spots in front of their eyes from all the camera flashes.

Now back to work on the book. I know where I want to go. I just need a trail of words to take me there.

Hope you have lots of reasons to smile this week. By the way, last chance to get in on this month's book giveaway if you haven't already sent me an e-mail or commented here.