Be Inspired!

Inspiration comes from many sources.  In fact, it's around us all the time, but it's up to us to listen, to allow it to enter us.

It's easy to fill our lives with noise.  I'm constantly moving from one task to the other: working, picking up the kids, making dinner, giving the kids baths, reading bedtime stories, answering the requests for water, tissues, another tuck-in, a missing stuffed animal, then bathing, making lunches for the next day, and maybe--just maybe--watching a show I missed when it originally aired or reading a chapter of one of the pile of books on my nightstand.  I sleep well at night.

It's difficult to cultivate the quiet moments for ourselves.  But we must.

Recently I took a group of five high school seniors to the state literary meet.  They competed in extemporaneous speaking, extemporaneous essay writing and humorous oral interpretation (reading). This trip is always one of the highlights of my academic year as a teacher, and it isn't because we perform well.  It isn't because I love the thrill of competition.  It isn't because I like to show off how wonderful my students are.

It's because on this trip we create inspirational moments.

The meet is held just outside Charleston, SC, so it's a haul for us; thus, we load the van and drive down the night before to ensure a good night's sleep.  The kids are always so focused on the competition, on the performance, and I find myself time and again reminding them that they will be fine, that they need not overprepare, that the true purpose of this trip is to enjoy.

Our first stop this year was to a hidden beach on Sullivan's Island from which we could see the skyline of Charleston, the history of Fort Sumter, and the loneliness of the Morris Island Lighthouse.  It was sunset, and a couple was having engagement photos taken, so there was a beautiful ring of candles set up on the beach.  The kids climbed up on rocks and marvelled at the pelicans swooping through the air and the sailboats coming into focus as they entered the harbor.  Two of my students rain straight for the water and began frolicking, shoeless, in the freezing ocean.  Inspiration indeed.

After dinner at Poe's Tavern (a literary pilgrimage for certain--I recommend the "Sleeper" and the "Black Cat"), we went to the vast public beach which was completely empty.  The touristy restaurants and rentals were dark, allowing the stars to fill the night, and there was only the sounds of the surf and the six people frolicking in the sea foam.  We walked for an hour on the beach, just talking and laughing, commenting regularly on the beauty of the moon, the stars, and the inky black sea.  We talked respectfully about politics.  We joked about the books we loved as kids.  We sang songs from Moana.  Everyone named their favorite genre of book.  When we returned to our access path the sea had taken some of our shoes, so there was much ado about their recovery.

We never talked about the upcoming meet.  Because it wasn't about that.  It was about just being together.  It was about listening, sharing, being inspired.

The next day they enjoyed competing, and two of them placed (4th and 1st in the state in their categories).  Yet I like to think we all learned something on the trip as well.  Maybe inspiration isn't all about preparation.  Maybe inspiration isn't all about makng sure everything goes exactly to plan.  Maybe inspiration isn't all about trying to solve a problem or waiting anxiously for the arrival of a spark.  Maybe inspiration begins with listening to others and to ourselves--and honoring what we hear.