29 Days of Giving: Days 13 &14
Jun 15th, 2010 | By Rachel Elliott | Category: 29 Days of Giving
June 13
Jessie is my 9 year-old Irish Setter and has been my faithful companion since the day I brought her little scrawny 10 week-old body home, and today she was the benefactor of my giving. I realize that she is not human and has no idea that I gave to her as part of my challenge, but I really felt like she deserved my gift today. Having been away for the past little while and when I am home I am distracted by work and school, little Jessie seems to have been getting the shaft. No long walks, very little play time, fewer snuggles; basically she had to live the life of an average family dog for a little while instead of living the life of a furry substitute for a human child. So today my gift was to basically give Jessie everything she wanted!
One of the coolest things about Jess is that she actually just wants my love and attention to the level that she offers the same back; she never wants food or treats as rewards, only time. So we started the day off with a very early morning walk, so early that we were waking up the birds. Jessie loves a good game of fetch before breakfast—she rarely gets this treat because we are usually getting ready for work and organizing our lives. As the day wore on, we played and snuggled and basically didn’t leave one another for the entire day.
I swear that she knew that it was her special day by the way that she settled in for a nap on the couch with her head on my lap. We haven’t had a day like that in a long time and at 9 years old, I worry that days like this might begin to get numbered. We have been constant companions for so long that I don’t really remember life without her—and I don’t really want to imagine it either. I have a theory that dogs would not survive being human because our hearts aren’t big enough to handle the love a dog can muster. It was nice to show her a fraction of gratitude for her love and companionship over the past 9 years.
June 14
The end of the school year is a busy time for the best of us but for those new to the profession, year-end tasks can seem like an insurmountable time. Today I offered my time to one of our teachers who is new to teaching and is finding the end of the year more than a little overwhelming. I taught her class for two periods while she worked on report cards, profile sheets, individualized education plans, and transition plans. She was so excited to have the help, she let out an audible squeal. The class and I had fun playing math games and they even let me read them a story which is one of my favourite all time things to do with kids.
I am lucky that my job allows me to have the time to do this sort of thing. I have a fairly flexible schedule and I can slip into a lot of classrooms and find a way to teach and entertain students for a reasonable amount of time. Her students are two years younger than the kids I normally teach and it served as a healthy reminder of how fun younger students can be!
Read about Rachel’s previous challenge days:
Read about why Rachel started the 29 Day Challenge.
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