Birthday Wishes

Today is my 24th birthday. (Happy birthday, me!) Birthdays are always fun for me because I like having a bit of a spotlight (I mean, come on, it's me). I also like other people's birthdays because I love gifting things. But today, I want to talk about what I was gifted with, not to be conceited or anything. I want to tell you what my amazing students brought me:

1. 1 2-liter Mountain Dew
2. 1 Pyrex baking dish with my last name etched in the bottom of it
3. Twilight (they gave me this because I make fun of it all the time)
4. Chap-stick and Starbursts
5. 2 Snickers bars
6. A giant happy birthday poster (probably 7 feet long)
7. An entire scrapbooking kit (the nice kind that all Mormon moms are in to), including:

• the book for the pictures
• a bajillion sheets of stickers
• really nice fine-tipped felt markers
• page protectors
• multiple sizes and patters of colored paper
• an organizer
• an instruction manual for scrapbooking ideas

As if this wasn't enough, I also got several cards. I want to share some of the things the students wrote in the cards, including some fun grammar they left me:

• "Thank you so much for helping us and inspiring us to always make the best out of every situation. You make the world a brighter place." - 9th grade popular girl group
• "Now you really are older than dirt!" - C.A., 8th grade (I always tell them I'm older than dirt when they don't get why I do old-fashioned things, like use complete sentences.)
  
• "I like that we can talk and laugh and tease each other all the time. [Those are] fun teaching methods. It's cool that you care about us." - K.D., 9th grade
• "You are a fantabulous teacher." - K.V.P, 7th grade
• "You are always really cute and really funny." - D.C., 8th grade
  
• "Your the greatest teacher I have ever had." - S.W., 9th grade (Here's the best part - I don't even teach him this year.)

Some days, teaching makes my brain hurt and I don't like it. Those are the days that I have to grade stuff. Whenever I think about my students, stuff like this comes to my mind. And people say teaching isn't worth it. Where else can you feel this amazing and influential to really important and equally amazing people?