Saddle-up.

The picture above is of my four kids in their new boots.

It's that time of year again, when I tuck in my shirt, shave regularly, and try to be somewhere on time--I really get spoiled over the summer!

Students are such a positive force in my life. I hope they realize how much inspiration I draw from them, how much enthusiasm I siphon off of their collective juice. If I did not get my regular, semesterly fix from them, I wonder what I'd do for a charge... I watch my collection of "teacher films" every year, but they do not compare to the thermonuclear white-hot glow of a room full of real, live college folk.

Goofy said it best: "I've got a yearnin' for learnin'" and truly I do. I hope my students can also share in this yearning, if they do not currently have it within them yet.

So now to wax on about my children. In the boot picture, the trained eye can actually see a lot of personality. The kid with the red boots? obviously a wildcat. The one on the far left, a nurturer helping to hold up little sister (she with the tiny boots and ruffled jeans). That bow-legged fellow with the Ostrich skin boots off to the right--truly an individual who is just as happy to go it alone, like Batman (only without the baggage...or utilty belt).

We're going to get this picture blown up big and hang it over a doorway somewhere. It really captures the personalities of my kids--at that moment when their boots were new.