I fall in love a lot. It’s a joke in our family, shared in silent smiles and glances between me and my husband. Every place we visit, every state we explore, I fall hopelessly and endlessly in love. Every new city I meet, I can’t help but fall in love with it and the adventures we will soon have. The laughter we will share. The unique perspectives soon added to my life.
I’m in one of these lovesick phases now, as we head south on I-95 from central Maine. It happened again. I am completely head over heels with the rugged, jagged Maine coast. With her radom sprinkling of granite boulders left behind from giant glaciers and her relentless waves pulling at the shoreline, day after day, month after month, year after year. I am in love with the tidal pools, exposed only for a few fleeting pockets of time and only exposed to those who either plan well or are lucky enough to stumble upon them. I’m in love with the gabled wood homes blanketed in cedar shingles that dot the coast, protecting generation after generation of Mainers from the gruff summer storms and the gruelingly beautiful ice of winter. With the fields of wildflowers in every tone and shade of yellow, dancing with the help of the salty air. With highways sprinkled with Queen Ann’s lace, sending its greetings to all that pass by. I have fallen in love for the thousandth time.
It’s a glorious feeling, isn’t it? To treasure something and smile at its mere mention? To fall in love?
So here’s to making our students feel that same longing for our classrooms. For our schools. So they fall in love all over again every new year and connect with that feeling that makes their hearts sing. The feeling that makes them smile at its mention and makes them giddy with its memory. Here’s to the hope that every student enters this school year with the openness to fall in love with learning. Here’s to the hope of falling in love.
Photo taken at The Lookout in Brooklin, ME