Tuesday, September 15, 2020

Slice of Life Tuesday: Recess Duty

 


Recess duty looks pretty different this year. Nobody's running and playing on the field; instead, they are all sitting at our outdoor cafeteria, distanced from each other, decorously eating their snacks. There are only a few of them, anyway, since half of the class is here at a time. 


But some things are the same. I still squint up at the birds on the wire and resolve to bring my binoculars tomorrow. I still talk and listen. I still soak in the Vitamin D from the sun. 

 

And today, as I walked back to my classroom with the sixth graders, a familiar smell hit my nose even through my mask: newly cut grass. When I was a child, that was the smell of Saturday mornings, and even though this is no Saturday morning, but a challenging school day with responsibilities both online and in person, a hybrid school day in this strange 2020 world, I had a rush of those feelings that the smell of cut grass and the sound of the lawnmower used to fill me with all those years ago. Those feelings that life was good, that I was safe and cared for, that the world was as it should be. 

 

Back at my desk, checking my to-do list for my free period (Do I have a Zoom conference? Did some work come in to grade? I need to work on next week's online lessons.), I am trying to hold on to the smell of cut grass.

4 comments:

Carol Varsalona said...

Ruth, your method of calming the nerves by holding onto the smell of freshly cut grass is a great one. I will have to add this technique to calm my stress levels but using the image of the rolling waves into shore. I can imagine how strange the concept of schooling and recreation is for the teachers in the classroom. Keep smelling the grass and letting us know what it is like in Haiti.

arjeha said...

Things have certainly changed. I am sure it it trying and tiring needing to keep track of who is where when. I like youyr comment about the freshly cut grass. Somehow the scent of a newly mowed lawn is relaxing, at least to me.

Fran Haley said...

Ruth, the smell of fresh-cut grass catapults me back over the years as well - instantly I am a child again, and my father is alive, mowing. That fragrance brings him very near. I read where the scent is really the secretions of the blades for healing itself. You've shared healing imagess and words here.

Denise Krebs said...

Ruth, what a lovely slice of your life today. I always love to see how people craft their slices. You gave us a glimpse of your life at school back-dropped with a memory of a scent. Such a beautiful piece. Thanks for sharing.