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VALENTINES A DAY OF SHORT SKIRTS AND TEARS

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!  If you want to see emotional imbalance come to a high school on Valentine's day. WOW! The tears were almost as prevalent as the flowers, chocoloates and the number of mini-skirts in the building today.

The first email at 7:00 a.m. was from the head of security asking for some extra back-up in the hallways this morning. There seemed to be a small breach in the dress code as all the girls were "dressing to impress." The number of girls lining up for dress code infractions looked like a line for a Twilight movie at midnight.  There were skirts of all shapes, colors, and styles. However, they had one thing in common, their length, or lack thereof.  There were some that, literally, looked as though the young lady had forgotten to put anything on her bottom half at all.  The best comment I overheard as all these fashion divas marched past my room to the office was; "You are just saying it's too short because you are jealous you can't make YOUR clothes look this good."  This was told to a very burly security guard and HE just threw his head back and laughed. I could not imagine the conversation they were about to have in the office. I am glad I was not part of that conversation because I was laughing uncontrollably.

The day continued to be filled with colorful surprises. Each hour a student had to leave to "compose" him or herself over lost love. There were also the lovey dovey kids in class who tried to sit closer, touch longer, and send text messages to their sweeties instead of read.  By the end of the day I could tell most of the student body was on a sugar high, as the kids ran, laughed and fidgeted uncontrollably in their chairs and halls. The heart shaped boxes filled up trashcans, there was an endless array of candy wrappers scattered around the halls, and the whole school smelled of floral arrangements. The tissues of the broken hearted or those who did not receive flowers, candy or hearts were left amongst the ribbons, glitter, and toils of the day.

The most intriguing part of the day was when the Polynesian group came into my room to give me a Poly-gram from someone annonymous. The poly-gram is a singing telegram sent by someone else in the school.  The performance by this talented group of students was absolutely beautiful. I was so impressed I had to track them down later to record them singing. ( SCROLL TO BOTTOM FOR THIS VIDEO)  Their voices were in perfect harmony, and the ukelele is such a soothing instrument. I loved how they beat boxed or used colored pencils to drum out a rhythm. I was thoroughly impressed, and wish the person who sent me such a great valentine's day surprise would have signed their telegram.

There was also a fellow teacher whose husband came in with his singing quartet and seranaded her in front of the entire front office. It was the cutest and sweetest act of love I viewed all day. This was especially sweet as this was the same way he had proposed to his lovely wife 17 years ago. It was a great day to watch young and old smiling and enjoying the spoils of a day spent focusing on love.

I enjoyed seeing pure joy in the eyes of the girls carting roses, and the laughter of the girls and guys alike hunched around lockers celebrating friends and true love. Although, the teenage mind on sugar and love can be a little crazy it is also sweet to see such unadulterated joy and hope. Maybe we adults can learn a little from these hormone driven individuals. 

Some loving lessons I think apply after watching the teenagers today:
1. Love a little more, deeper, and without holding back.
2. Just giving something small to someone you care for can make a big difference.
3. Share your whole heart, and sometimes it takes a leap of faith even if you risk getting hurt. 
4. Do something nice ANONYMOUSLY because a little mystery is always fun.
5. You can buy yourself chocolates if you don't get any and LOVE WHO YOU ARE! 


 
ENJOY!

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