Middle School and Cloud Shadows

.MIddle school is hard. I do not know anyone who longs to turn back time and relive being 13 or 14 years old -- wanting to be your own person while blending in with the crowd, desperately trying to gain entrance to the adult world while holding on to childhood - all while rivers of hormones are coursing through your ever-changing body. It's a scary time and navigating it can be brutal.

I've told many students that "this too shall pass", that they will grow up, move on, and this period in their life will be but a blip on the timeline. They often shake their heads, convinced that I just do not understand. A few weeks ago I found a visual to show them that I do.

I was flying across they country to visit my oldest child. It was a fairly long plane ride and I passed some of the time looking out the window.

The view was beautiful and I loved the shadows of the clouds on the ground. It's funny that when we're on the ground the clouds that drift across the sun appear so large and it seems that it will take forever for them to pass and the sun to shine again. The view from the plane put it in a different perspective. From this side the clouds are small, and though they are littered all over the sky - the areas of sunlight are much greater.

What a great metaphor for my students. Life has cloud shadows. There are times when life seems dark and it feels as though things will not change, but invariably the clouds will pass and sunlight will be on the other side. You just have to be patient and get through. 

---