If I Could Be Invisible . . .

I'm not sure how this story will translate to my blog but I'm going to tell it anyway.

In honor of the thousands of school kids in central Ohio who have been celebrating the "snow days" this week, the kids and I have trimmed our schedule a bit and have spent the last two days doing a little less "seatwork" and a little more reading--and I didn't even think that was possible! However, yesterday I instructed Tyler and Darcy to write an essay on a particular subject (how they would spend the day if they drank a potion that caused them to turn invisible--just in case you were wondering). They each took to their assignment like moths to a flame and were soon handing me their papers (both of which included fantasies of spying on, scaring and otherwise playing any number of practical jokes on their siblings). I dutifully read each essay and then filed both.















This morning, after giving them a night to reflect on what they'd written, I returned their essays and asked them to check for any grammatical errors and to see if they wanted to make any changes or additions. In Tyler's case, for me to give an open-ended directive like that, I might as well say, "You're free-take the rest of the day off!" So I told him to sit down at the dining room table and take ten minutes to review what he'd written. I told him I would set a timer and that even if he felt he was done in five minutes, I wanted him to read over his essay for the full ten minutes. I told him I would be going down to the basement to put some laundry in the washing machine and would return momentarily.

After I had finished sorting the laundry and getting a load in to wash (oh, and reading Darcy's "new and improved" version of her essay), I headed up the stairs. To my great surprise, the timer began beeping. Almost in stereo Tyler and I said, "Has it been ten minutes already?" It really seemed like I'd just blinked and ten minutes had passed. No wonder it feels like I never get anything done! Anyway, from the dining room Tyler piped up, "I guess I was having fun." I responded, "Why do you say that?" He said, "Well, you're always saying 'Time flies when you're having fun' and time sure flew so I must have been having fun!" That doesn't look so funny in print but it was funny to me because Tyler's tone of voice was just so incredulous, as though the thought of having fun while writing was baffling to him!