Hearts Are Made For Breaking

Another morning of cold rain greeted the city of San Francisco as I made my commute back to the Mission. Because of the weather, I found all of the preschool students sitting down to watch a movie since they couldn't play outside. The same child who wept about not being able to go to drama class last week had to be encouraged to join me today and leave the film behind. Can't say I blamed him, the movie was about dinosaurs!

Once we settled into class one little boy shouted out, "Teacher Ashley! I'm growing!" To which I asked, "You are! Do you think I'm growing too?" He firmly replied, "No." I joking then asked if he thought I would grow taller, if my feet would get bigger, and if he believed my heart could become larger. He then, in the most matter of fact tone, said, "You're going to break your heart. And then you're going to cry." "Um, yeah, been there done that, kid, but do we have to bring it up..." is what I should have asked but before I could muster out a word another little boy walked over to be and said gently, "Here is a new one." And he placed his small hand near my chest. As if the gesture couldn't get sweeter, he then said, "And here's some ice cream!" The rest of the class followed him and gave me "hearts" and "ice cream cones". It's an incredible feeling to know that if I allow my heart to be broken, I now have a surplus of extra ones to get me through and a never ending supply of ice cream to ease the pain.