I, on the other hand, had no quirks. Quirks require time, which most women have so little of.

When they hear I teach first grade, they invariably picture my kids like a litter of puppies in a pet store window, cute and nearly brainless. Let me tell you. My kids are brilliant. Never underestimate children. I don't teach to their minds. Or their hearts. I teach to their spirits, and not one child has failed me. Ever. I mind-boggle them by reminding them they are made from the remnants of star-dusted constellations. When I tell them this their eyes sparkle to prove it.

I belong to a miracle network of game changers known as American public elementary teachers.

Men. You can't take the Barbie out of the boy.

Some things don't deserve a response. Some things don't deserve to live either.

When you see someone's sacredness, everything changes.

Love is life in search of words, and words are wings that lift us, break us, join us, melt us, like rain.

I opened my eyes and exhaled twelve years of single parenting.

Let me tell you. My kids are brilliant. Never underestimate children. I don't teach to their minds. Or their hearts. I teach to their spirits, and not one child has failed me. Ever.

Children arrived as innocent as fairy dust and left as tiny beacons of knowledge, and while I lived every day inside their world, I could never explain what happened. Until now.