I am an educator by choice.  I write curriculum with goals for learning, plans and activities to achieve those goals.  Everything must work together.  The lessons need to be both engaging and meaningful.  Yet, as I reflect back over 20 years of teaching and learning, I am convinced that the magic is in relationship. 

Students who once sat wide-eyed in my freshman-level English course absolutely certain they could not “get” Shakespeare are now nurses and business titans whom I follow on Facebook.  I can close my eyes and envision each chat in my office that began as a grade appeal and ended in tearful clarity.   Hallway conversations about being late to class because a boyfriend “punched me up” again … see my arm?   Not one student would care how much I knew unless they knew how much I cared. 

One on one.  Individual curriculum with goals for improving someone’s quality of life.  That requires much more than planning.  It requires relationship.

Hidden treasure … always what my soul is searching for.   In order to find the most amazing parts of life, what matters most is what I see.   Anyone who knows me well can testify that my favorite afternoon is spent thrifting - poking around the Salvation Army, slowly filling the rickety cart with pieces to fill my world.  The trick is to look.  The sentence is simple, but the practice takes time.   
Holding this heavy pendant in my palm, it just felt right.  The balance was sensory as well as philosophical.  Grit & Grace: the two elements of allure, as I see it.  Plunk!  This gem is going in the basket today.  Later as I hung it on the iron  hook, I knew it would become an amulet of reminder.
I see so much treasure in the faces all around me.  In my eyes, all the pieces fit.  How can I voice strong in a culture that leans toward cost benefit analysis and conformity?  It’ll take grit, Lisa.  Speak the treasure that you see.  How can I be the calm that keeps the pieces all in place? It’ll take grace, Lisa.  Take a deep breath.