Not made to be lone rangers

At the end of the school day yesterday I was a little frustrated at how parts of the school day had gone. The difference came when I chatted to 2 of my colleagues after school and shared how the day had gone. How I'd tried to make it challenging and fun. How I'd got myself in a right tizz. How the children had not seemed to get on with what I'd asked them to do, being more interested in talking about Pirates of the Caribbean or playing 'it' at break time. Talking and listening to them made me realize that I'd given them something much too hard. And I'm not the world-fixing, all-child-teaching machine that I sometimes delude myself into thinking I am. I will get things right, and I will get things wrong. That's why I'm not made to be a lone ranger.

Thinking about this in the shower this morning I was reminded that if we were all lone rangers in our jobs, relationships, lives, we'd not be reaching the best in each situation. For example with Cat and I, who have been happily married for 5 and a half months now (:D), if we both just did our own thing, didn't ask each other for help, or leaned on each other at times we wouldn't be enjoying marriage anywhere near as much. There's a blending that's occurring where both she and I are learning to share what we both do best, learning how to support the other and finding that the more we do blend our lives together, the better life is.

At home, Cat listening to how much day had gone made a world of difference. In school, having Leigh and Viki listen to my rantings on the day and share their thoughts at the end of the day was a massive help, and I know that there are skills that we all bring to the table to make our school a better place. If we all just did our job without raising our heads out of the sand and looking around for how else we can use what we've been given, our school would not be the family it is.

All of this reminds me how we are all individuals. We have a unique blend of skills and abilities. We have unique personalities. We are in the places we are meant to be. However, I firmly believe we get the best out of life when we share the best that we are with the people around us. Life is in relationships. Friends, family, husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends, sons, daughters and children (in class or your own!)

We're not made to be lone rangers. We're made to be part of the great party riding out into the un-known. We're made for relationships. Sharing yourself can be hard, but it brings vitality to your life.

TheWeeScottie

Why can't the English weather just make sense?

Over the recent Summer holidays, Cat and I joined a team for the Bournemouth International Outreach. The International students commented time and time again how they were amazed that the English weather could be sunny in the morning and thundering down with rain by lunch time. This song is dedicated to the bemused International students who visited over the summer.

Why can't the English weather just make sense?

V1
Oh why is it in England
that the sun is never here?
The rainclouds and the thunder
seem to leave the sun in fear
I'd give my two front teeth
and maybe two more from the rear
just to have a single nice hot sunny day!

Ch
For the rain is always raining
and the sleet it loves to sleet
our summer thunder showers
are decidedly un-neat
and prickling hail stones
just get under your feet
oh why can't the English weather just, make, sense?

Ch

V2
You go out for a walk
in one of those rare sunny spells
but when you leave your door step
there open up all hell!
your umbrella turns inside-out
and before you've reached halfway
you're soaked right to the skin
and wish you could restart your day

Ch

V3
And when it comes to holidays
you never can choose right
hiking's just a no-no
camping can be a fright
to hold out in a hotel
just makes you feel like a fraud
and the sun only really comes out
when you head off abroad.

Ch

V4
This curious weather system
can leave you in a spin
a hot and sunny day
can quickly change to snow and wind
those shorts you picked out for the beach
now give you chilly skin!
and wishing that it were another
country you lived in

Ch (final)
So throw out your cold weather clothes
get your hot weather dosh
sell off your welly boots
and give away your macintosh
abandon this weird weather that
leaves us in such a state
pick our that house in Haiti
let's pack up and emigrate.

(Post a comment if you'd like the chords :) )

TheWeeScottie

Autumn leaves

A wee reflection on the way to and after school today about the changing colours of autumn.

Autumn leaves

Autumn leaves drift by my windowsill

each with their own story to tell

colours share their own history

preferring more to share than tell

Red reminds of rosy apples

juicy from their summer growth

weighing leafy boughs to bend

until they fall with Newton's grace.

Orange shares the burnished sunset's

golden glow across the sky

shading clouds so very high

stop a moment, wonder why.

Yellow spots remind of polka dots

on summer dresses waving in the breeze

chilling hidden knobbly knees

some wearers wish we wouldn't spot!

Green holds onto nature's one last stand

before the chilling of the ageing land.

Snows will beckon soon but not before

the autumn leaves show their last colour in store.

Brown breathes in the earthly depths below

sod and soil mingle with leaves, slow

like winter's passing into spring

old leaves die that new ones soon might grow.

Autumn leaves drift pass my windowsill

each with their own story here to tell

colours hinting at their secret history

preferring to rather show, than tell.

TheWeeScottie