little things

balmy weather. this is what we listen to.
--
(let me have my moment of cheese)
i work with international kids. it's been luck - this has been my year off, not something planned out to the nth degree; and i've come to love it (tho it ends in jan). i get to do the fun stuff - others can worry about grades and visas and responsible things; i hang out with people, we work collaboratively on projects. not all kids are 'trouble', or in trouble. but some are. one girl - z - has had a rough year. but we've inched along and worked out how to not annoy each other too much, even to work productively. today i ran into her, and she was ... just beaming; she's got a job, she hands out the messenger in the city. she's got a corner, she's got a beat; she's got her blue jacket and her stack of papers. and i haven't seen anyone so happy in a long time: z handing out that paper, smiling and chatting with passersby.
it was contagious; i came home smiling.

+ today some of the lucky ones graduated. they came in wearing their gowns, in all their glory; after all that hard work, there was that beautiful sense of life full in its moment.