Ships In the Night, Part 2

**This post is an update on the situation described in the previous post, Ships In the Night.**

Data made it to school the next day.  Despite the anxiety and the imagination that had gotten the best of him, he had survived the night.  I asked him about the pirates, and he responded with a look of confusion.  Not because he didn't remember our conversation.  He did.  The confusion was more from his inability to fully express is thoughts and ideas.  Remember, his English is far from perfect, so he may not have had the words to offer his true thoughts on the matter.  After some time and some thought, he explained that he and his friend had made the desperate decision to break the pirate treasure they had found in hopes that the pirates would then be satisfied and leave them alone.  It was his perception that this decision, no matter how difficult, had saved them from enduring the wrath of the revenge-seeking pirates.

I have to admit, I absolutely admire Data's imagination.  As you and I grow older, life can make it more and more difficult to maintain our childlike imaginations.  In some regards, that can be a good thing.  But in many other instances, it's rather unfortunate that we let it slip away from us.  We get caught up in the rigor of our day-to-day lives and fail to fully utilize one of the great gifts given to us as humans.

I'm obviously not encouraging each one of us to let our imaginations get the best of us to the point that we lose sleep over the possibility that pirates are after us.  But I'm guessing each of our lives would become a little more interesting if we let our imaginations run a little more freely, like we did when we were young.  When we imagined having superpowers, rather than focusing on our flaws.  When we imagined taking part in adventures that took us to the ends of the earth, rather than being worn down by the grind of everyday life.

Data's imagination transformed these last few days from ordinary to extraordinary.  They may be days he talks about for years to come.  The days he thought he was fleeing angry pirates.  It'll be a great story.  One that will probably get even better with each passing retelling.

I want to hear from you.  What stories do you have?  When did your imagination get the best of you?

Ships In the Night

After school today, I had a rather serious conversation with a student I taught last year.  The subject matter caught me by surprise and I wasn't sure how to react to what he was telling me, so I basically stood there and listened to what he had to say.  When the conversation was over, I walked away questioning if I handled it the right way.  Let me fill you in on the details, and I'll let you decide if I was right or wrong.

To give you some idea of the type of kid I was dealing with, picture a second grade version of Data, the Asian gadgets expert from The Goonies.  He has the same imperfect English, wittiness, and personality that other kids his age gravitate towards.  In fact, it's such an accurate comparison that I'll just refer to the kid as Data to simplify things.

So Data and I were standing outside the front of our school when he mentioned that he was scared for tonight.  This was something I'd never heard him say before.  But I knew he has a sibling and a cousin who have been battling some health issues lately, so I was concerned that perhaps one of them had gotten worse.

I asked him what he had to be scared of.

He looked at me and, with complete seriousness, said, "I'm afraid pirates might get me."

He was honestly worried that pirates were after him.

Stunned by what I'd just heard, I suppressed the urge to laugh and asked him what he'd done to upset the pirates.  He then went on to explain that he and a neighbor friend had discovered part of a "treasure" buried in the ground near his home (which is located in north Omaha).  It apparently had a skull and crossbones pirate symbol on it, which gave him cause for concern.

As our conversation went on, I could tell that Data wasn't joking about any of it.  He and his friend had even created a map to detail where they'd found the treasure.  Or perhaps it was to where they had reburied the lost loot.  Data didn't clarify.  He also went on to explain that he'd had a nightmare the night before of a pirate chasing after him (I should have asked him if the pirate running after him happened to be wearing an eye patch and going by the name One-Eyed Willie).

As he finished filling me in on all of the details, I found myself not knowing if I should break it to him that he and his friend have nothing to worry about.  I could have explained that, due to the proximity to the nearest large body of water, the chances of buried pirate treasure being found in Omaha, NE are slim to none.

Instead, I made the decision to let him sweat it out for the night.

Before turning to head back inside the school, I looked Data in the eye with all of the seriousness I could muster and said, "Good luck tonight."  He said thanks and started walking home, unsure of who or what might be waiting for him.

So what do you think?  What would you have done if you were in my shoes?

Mistaken for Strangers

Ever been mistaken for someone far more daring and dangerous than you actually are?

I have.  Multiple times, in fact.

During my first year of teaching while reading a book about a boy who wanted to be a pirate, one of my girls was in awe of my ability to speak "pirate".  I didn't bother to tell her that it's not typically recognized as an actual language.  Or that I picked it up simply by reading what the author had written.  I wish I could have claimed to have learned to speak "pirate" while spending months on a pirate ship off the cost of Bora Bora with the one and only Captain Braid Beard.  But sadly, that never happened.  Internally, I was kicking myself for never having done something that dangerous.

For the longest time, that story topped the Times I Wished My Student's Perception Was Actually Reality List (TIWMSPWARL for short...or rather, for slightly less long).

Last week, a casual conversation took a turn that ultimately landed the top spot on the TIWMSPWARL (note to self: create simpler names for lists that only exist inside my head).

On Monday, I was walking in the hall when one of my students from last year came up to say hi.  I had seen her sitting on her porch with her mom as I drove by her house on the way home after school the previous Friday.  I had honked and waved at them, and they both waved back.   

So as we began to talk, I mentioned seeing her and her mom as I drove past their house on Friday.  At first, she smiled and said, "Oh yeah!  We saw you, too."  Then her face changed, and I could tell that she was confused about something.  She looked up at me and asked, "Were those real guns on your car?"

At first, I wasn't exactly sure what she meant, but then I quickly realized what she was referring to.  My "real guns" were actually just my bike rack.

As I explained to her what a bike rack is and why I have one on my car, I was kicking myself once again for being far less dangerous than I appeared.  This time, I was bummed out by the fact that I drive just an average Corolla and not the Batmobile.

Someday, maybe someday, I'll be as daring and dangerous as my students perceive me to be.