Left Behind

Early on, I noticed something interesting about my teenagers. They don't hold petty grudges.

I had a good friend in Nashville who was that way too, and I remember the day it occurred to me that knowing him influenced me to be less petty.

Maybe God puts people like that in my life because he knows the effect it will have.

The teens in Copán have been with me for a year and a half now, and I see myself growing from the relationship with them. I got a new insight into myself when I learned that my general attitude in interpersonal conflict is -
I guess if the other person isn't mad, why should I be?

So, whenever a difficult moment comes up between one of my students and me, the fact that neither of us is angry afterwards is definitely a win. And then for me, there is the added benefit of noticing the contrast between the student's tendency to move on and my past tendency to be petty.

"Love prospers when a fault is forgiven,

but dwelling on it separates close friends."

Proverbs 17:9

The ability to let go of little offenses is a quality I respect in the teenagers, and I experience more freedom in life for emulating it.

Homeys

Here's to friendship and all the ways a person's homeboys or homegirls make this crazy world better.

These days, I'm left to mostly daydream about past moments with all my great friends in the U.S. And thankfully, once in a while I also get to connect with them through voice and video apps on Apple products.

Flying Solo...

Retrospection helps me see interesting things about the life I've had since finishing school years ago.

Anyone who knows me knows I have loved exploring southern states and Honduras on my own. 

Crossing off a number of items on my wish list of places to live/goals to pursue of course feels great!

Here lately, though, I appreciate ways my experience even holds benefits for life after bachelorhood.

Every time I think of all I've been given, I know I want to create a life this rich for someone else.

Let's face it - for someone like me, lifting another person is what brings the greatest fulfillment.

Grumpy Old Men

Life is still golden in Honduras...and meanwhile, back in Alabama
my twins dressed as grumpy old men while celebrating their 100th
day at school.

Different

Something I always say about Copán is there's a gentleness and a humility that characterizes the people here.

Maybe it really is true that the way towns were in the U.S. in days gone by...the way that that "world" seemed to a greater degree to have human decency as the norm...
That aspect of America back then lives on today in a place like Copán.

What's got me thinking about all this is something I saw in the school's outdoor cafeteria today:

The picture above shows what was to my right as I was eating. There was a plant close to my table, and someone had placed a metal bar beside the plant. It must have been a bar that came off one of the benches we use for seating at each of our wood lunch tables.

After noticing the bar, I had a little impulse to simply pick it up and remove it. Unfortunately, the reason for the impulse is that as a person who works with students, I have developed over time a reflex for ridding environments of things that might tempt students to make a bad decision. The actual thought I had in the moment today was that the bar should be put away so we never have a situation where an upset student grabs and uses it against another student as a weapon.

Might sound far fetched to think of young people this way, but as far back as high school, I remember a day when a kid got on the school bus with a small metal bar in his hand and then attacked another bus rider with it. Apparently, they had had a prior disagreement, and I guess one of them decided he needed a metal object to compensate for his smaller stature when physically confronting the other guy.

Anyway, in the middle of my thought process in the cafeteria, I realized there was no need to take the bar because fights and violence are something I haven't witnessed at all at our school. In fact, it's kinda hard to imagine a student here attacking another with a weapon.

My conclusion in that moment, as well as what it indicated to me about my view of small town Honduran teens (versus U.S. teens), struck me as interesting.

Could It Be?

Re-embarking on my career in higher education...
A return to the state of Alabama...
Committing to someone special for the rest of my life...
Having a new list of aspirations to pursue since I'm now living out the last of my original dreams...
Embracing the southerners and southern-ness I miss while I'm abroad...

Let's see if any of these possibilities materialize in the next few years.

The Day of Love

Happy V-Day from Mayatan Bilingual School!

Life Is A Highway...

Been thinking about my life.
The part of it that's in Honduras...
the part that's north of the U.S. border...
the part I have to look forward to in the future...
and even the part of it that's now behind me.

Each part is so uncommonly beautiful that I'm at a loss for clear understanding of why a life this stunning has been arranged for little old me.

I mean, I know God's goodness and greatness are to blame for every blessing on earth. It's just that the sweetness of my life seems to exceed the normal bounds of anything I've heard of.

All this makes me suspect that I get a lot of help from unseen, unheard prayers sent up from people like my late grandmother and my mom.

Today, I heard a popular remake of the song, "Life Is A Highway." No idea what the song means - I've never really considered the lyric. I only know that the spirit of it seems fun and reminds me of the "take life by the horns" kind of gusto I feel about the years to come.

Writing now from the comfort of my second delightful year living abroad, I am reminded that the glory of God fills my history with so much to look back on, yet I'm really just getting started on the road of life; much more glory lies ahead!

You Can't Make This Stuff Up

Actual remark from one of the teenagers:

Mister - when I woke up this morning, my mom was standing there looking at me.
And she said, "Why were you talking in your sleep?"

And I asked her what I said, and she told me,
"No, Mister - that is not fair. I shouldn't get a detention for that."

Swindled

Today, 9th grade was telling me the story of their third grade teacher - a foreigner like me.

He is remembered for taking up collections (food or money), telling the students that a class potluck meal or the purchase of a new fan for the burning hot classroom would be forthcoming...
And then -- you guessed it:
the kiddos never once saw any part of a potluck or a fan.

They laughed when they told me that that gentleman obviously pocketed their money and ate their food together with his wife, who also worked at the school.

Life Informing Life

Figuring out how to live in Copán
helps me understand how to live in the states.

Simply.
Naturally.
Beautifully.

Sneak Preview

Know what I like? Having at least one little chance to cover a class for a 7th grade teacher who is out for the day.

The reason:

it puts me in the room with students who will be mine the following year - kids who (unfortunately at my school) have had no exposure to what it feels like to be part of a classroom where the teacher - not the students - is in control and calmly maintains order at all times.

Some classrooms on campus can be a bit chaotic in the case of the teacher who never taught before or who taught at a school where there was inadequate teacher training for student behavior management.

Subbing in 7th grade for a day certainly doesn't mean the students become perfect angels anytime they're in my presence, but it does give them at least a heads up that things will be quite different when they arrive for 8th grade Literature and 8th grade English.

It's A Good Life

Running a couple miles outdoors in my neighborhood...
Alabama and Georgia football games on tv (instead of a spotty online video stream)...
Concerts, stage musicals, and symphony orchestras...
Hanging out now and then with some of the most important people in my life...

Everything mentioned above is on the list of loves I'll gladly return to someday in the states.

Looking forward to being back home, and also looking forward to more time spent here = a good life.

Cuties from the elementary school side of campus.